The constellations are shining brighter at the Washington State University Planetarium thanks to a new digital projection system.
“It is kind of like the Google Earth of the stars,” said Michael Allen, planetarium director and senior instructor of physics and astronomy. “There is really nothing else like this in the Inland Northwest.”
Mounted at the far end of the circular room, the system uses a high end digital projector, specially cut mirrors and Stellarium, a free open source software that projects a realistic sky in three dimensions, just like you would see standing in the backyard on a clear night.
The planetarium’s fall series kicked off Sept. 19 with “Maiden Voyage,” a show about the highlights of the fall sky and the digital projection system’s new features. The series will include four more shows, each running twice, through Dec. 7.