The "Expedition: Solar System" program, an Institute of Museum and Library Services funded planetarium show, takes you on a ride through our Solar System. Young students join Quasi the Robot on a guided tour with stops at the International Space Station, Mars as the Perserverance rover explores, the rings of Saturn, and the drawf planet Pluto. Another stop is the metalic asteroid Psyche, unusual for these small objects, made mostly of nichel-iron materials.
The NASA/JPL Psyche mission that is planned to launch Fall 2023 will travel to the orbit of Psyche between Mars and Jupiter. Psyche is thought to have been created by a collision with another object while it was still mostly molten. Most of the rock material was blasted away leaving only iron mixed with other metals as if it might be the remaining core of what would have been a small planet... and possibly more exotic metals like gold, copper or silver. The collision simulation is very dramatic especially in the immersive view available in a fulldome planetarium.
The program is presented using the Buhl's new 8K Digistar7 fulldome video system in the planetarium's 50 foot dome with 10 - 4K video projectors fed by 10 syncronized computers, filling the dome with high definition imagery. A "heavy metal" soundtrack seemed a must and the 5.1 Surround audio track completes the immersive experience.
The video here is showing a wide front view of the 360 degree immersive experience. The "Expedition: Solar System" program will be distributed by the Buhl Planetarium to any planetariums requesting the program as part of the IMLS grant's specifications. |
