New Horizons Dome Theater and Planetarium Archives

Show Your Support For El Paso’s Gene Roddenberry Planetarium!

Staff Report February 2, 2018 News, Tech 12

Established in 1969, the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium has been a major benefit to El Paso students and teachers by providing an exciting glimpse into the night sky for audiences of all ages, free of charge.

Now the Planetarium is asking for help from the community.

As you may already know, EPISD is looking to relocate the Planetarium to Northeast El Paso. They have applied for a city grant and need letters of support from you, the community, to show that there is a real interest in continuing this tradition of free learning and fun field trips.

To accomplish this goal, the El Paso Herald Post, working on behalf of the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium, asks you simply submit your name and email in the form below, so the City can see how much we all support this very important part of our community.

But time is of the essence, as all letters need to be received by February 15, 2018.

Thank you!
With your help, we can accomplish keeping the key to the cosmos alive!

Does your business or organization want to join The Gene Roddenberry Planetarium Coalition?

Contact->

Amy R. Cooley
El Paso Herald Post Outreach
outreach@elpasoheraldpost.com
915-922-7490

I Support The Planetarium!

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February 1, 2018 Ms. Nicole Ferrini Director, Community and Human Development City of El Paso 801 Texas El Paso, TX 79901 RE: 2018-2019 Community Development Block Grant; El Paso Independent School District Gene Rodenberry Planetarium Ms. Ferrini, Please accept this letter of support on behalf of (agency/organization name) as it relates to EPISD’s 2018-2019 Community Development Block Grant application designed to save and relocate the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium. (agency/organization name) believes that this endeavor is needed and will serve to advance northeast El Paso as well the entire City of El Paso. The Gene Rodenberry Planetarium has been a source of education, exposure and local resource for thousands of El Paso students, schools and community members for nearly 50 years. It is the only resource of its kind within several hundred miles of El Paso and provides area students, children and community members the opportunity to study and appreciate the universe in its natural beautiful form. We believe that the loss of such a resource would be detrimental to the entire community. Any effort to save this local treasure and community resource should be given tremendous consideration. Preserving this resource will benefit students academically, enrich the surrounding community with the opportunity for exposure to contemporary and historically significant understanding of the universe. We are in full support of EPISD’s proposal to relocate and save the planetarium and house it in Northeast El Paso. Such preservation must be perceived as not only a community good, but a community necessity! Should you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

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Work Set to Begin on New Mexico Museum of Space History’s New Theater/Planetarium

Staff Report December 25, 2017 News Comments Off on Work Set to Begin on New Mexico Museum of Space History’s New Theater/Planetarium

The final stage of renovations at the New Mexico Museum of Space’s New Horizons Dome Theater and Planetarium begins on January 2, 2018, when preparations begin to replace the dome inside the theater.

The theater is anticipated to be closed beginning January 2 through March 9 during construction.

According to representatives from Spitz, Inc., the company that will be handling the installation, the new dome will consist of 154 custom cut panels, each with numerous perforations. In fact, there will be approximately 27,131,904 perforations in those panels and if they were lined up in a straight line, the line would stretch for about 26.76 miles.

Another fun fact is that if the dome was turned upside down it could hold roughly 444, 346,865 M&Ms.

“As interesting as the fun facts are about the new dome, what’s really exciting is to see this final phase of our theater renovations starting,” said Museum Executive Director Christopher Orwoll. “Replacing the aging dome, which was installed in 1980, is quite a process. The new dome utilizes NanoSeam technology, which basically means you won’t be able to see any seams and the reflective surface will be significantly brighter than what we have now.”

Spitz Inc. is the same company that installed the new 4k laser planetarium projection system in the theater. The Spitz NanoSeam process effectively eliminates seams in the dome by hand crafting each individual panel flush to be flush with its neighbor, making the entire projection surface completely uniform.

“Each panel that makes up the dome is cut to a specific size and fitted perfectly,” said Orwoll. “This is quite a process and starts from the ground up.”

All the seats in the theater will be removed, some minor retrofitting of the existing theater cove will need to be done, and the old dome will be removed piece by piece. Then the team from Spitz will get to work carefully installing the new dome and LED lighting system.

The theater is expected to reopen in early March.