The projectors have arrived! Last week we conducted our first test in preparation for the Rotunda Planetarium’s November 1 launch. Over the course of the summer, we’ll be running more projection tests, prepping exhibition materials, and chronicling our thoughts on the blog—stay tuned as things develop. The projectors will be arrayed around the upper gallery […]
Category Archives: Blog
The 1819 Rotunda Planetarium
Thomas Jefferson’s 1819 Rotunda Planetarium designs called for a mystifying (and dangerous) boom-and-pulley lift that would to elevate an operator to adjust stars pinned to the Rotunda’s concave ceiling. “The concave ceiling of the Rotunda,” he wrote, “is proposed to be painted sky-blue and spangled with gilt stars in their position and magnitude copied exactly.” […]