When you first enter the Pensacola State College Planetarium, you almost feel a sense of serenity when entering such a grandiose place. Everyone who enters the Planetarium is there to connect to something bigger than ourselves and to understand the nature of our existence. Ironically, it’s strangely calming to be in a place where all your earthly worries are removed, as you look up at projections of the universe.
As she stood there in the observatory, Allison Spradin, who works at the planetarium, conducted the PSC observatory by pushing buttons and pulling levers to create any magical thing your mind could project up in the sky. From all the stars around you from any place in the world’s position, to untold sights and sounds in relation to the cosmos and time itself brought up at a whim. But mainly, the first or second Friday of the month.
In reality, the planetarium is as quaint as it is grandiose. Usually, shows can fluctuate from biology (The Body Code), history (Dinosaur Passage to Pangaea), time (Tales of a Time Traveler), and of course space itself (From Earth to the Universe amongst others). Depending on what they want that month, they sometimes to even more entertainment-based arrangements beyond education.
Out of my personal curiosity, I chose the “Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon” show for Allison to showcase due to my liking of the album and any attempts to visualize such cerebral art. Beforehand, I was warned by Allison that the show was the most problematic one with viewers due to the equilibrium warping special effects. After my brief demonstration, she described a story where a collective involved in a team building exercise decided to check out the Pink Floyd show with the motion sickness warning beforehand and the ability to choose another option if things got too much. They lasted for six minutes.
During my observation of the “Time” sequence, I was quickly losing balance while standing due to the complex 360° camera movements around a giant clock in such sensory consuming conditions. I spent much of my time after my visit complaining about my loss of balance. It’s effective stuff, and it’s a clear reminder why someone should sit down in a good central position when seeing a show.
Usually once the main show is over, you then get to see the stars themselves via the planetarium. Using the Stellarium software (accessible for anyone interested on the internet for free), you get an accurate, 360° view of outer space from any angle you wish, at any time you wish, and from any different cultural perspectives you wish. One could argue that we are spoiled with technology that allows us to see all over the world like this, especially with the ability to see it at home, but who has the time to do so anymore? In the age of light pollution, the stars become difficult to observe for the average person who isn’t trying to see the stars with a telescope or driving out of the downtown lights. These shows concentrate that energy into hour long events that can introduce someone to envision the cosmos properly with such a starting point. People and places like Allison and the planetarium remind us, though the methods we use today, the need to understand our place in the universe and the practitioners today who help us see though the telescope.