KEY Milwaukee - Feature Story

Museum to add planetarium, multimedia technology to IMAX

WISCONSIN’S only IMAX dome theater this fall will become one of the nation's largest and most advanced planetariums when the Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 W. Wells St., adds state-of-the-art, full-dome digital video capabilities to its Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater.

The new planetarium will use the IMAX theater's 74-foot-diameter, hemispherical domed screen to take audiences to the deepest reaches of the universe through cutting-edge video projection technology. The $2.6 million project is being launched by a $1.8 million lead gift from the Daniel M. Soref Charitable Trust. Remaining funds will be raised through private donations. No public money will be spent on the project.

The upgraded facility will be called the Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater and Daniel M. Soref Planetarium. Led by trained Museum educators, the first planetarium presentations will be held in January 2006.

"The new state-of-the-art Daniel M. Soref Planetarium gives the stars to our more than one million annual visitors," Museum President and CEO Michael Stafford said. "Through the establishment of one of the most technologically capable planetariums anywhere in the world, the Daniel M. Soref Charitable Trust has given southeastern Wisconsin and the region a most remarkable gift."

The project includes no new construction, but cost-effectively retrofits the existing six-story dome theater with projection and computer technology that has just recently become available. IMAX documentaries and feature films will remain a staple of the theater's programming.

Focusing on the night sky, but not limited to subjects of astronomy, planetarium shows will be interactive, with a live presenter guiding the audience through part of the experience. Astronomy "sky shows" will feature realistic, full-color re-creations of the night sky, as seen at any time of year and from any vantage point on earth or in space.

The heart of the theater's multimedia and planetarium capabilities will be a $1.8 million projector called the Digistar 3 Laser, the latest model in the Digistar line manufactured by Evans and Sutherland Computer Corp. of Salt Lake City. The product of nearly eight years of research and development, the Digistar 3 Laser projector uses optical lasers produced by Evans and Sutherland and a micro-electronic mechanical "light valve" system to project images of unprecedented resolution, filling the giant screen with 16 million pixels. The choice of objects to view is enormous, from models of the solar system to models of archaeological digs accurate to the nearest inch.

"Any object that can be rendered on a computer can be projected onto the 60-foot-tall IMAX domed screen," said Jeffrey Bass, Museum vice president of education, public programming and IMAX.

There are more than 40 theaters in the world using the Digistar 3 computer video system, but the museum will be among the first to install the Digistar 3 Laser projector. The cutting-edge technology puts the museum in the league of the world's most renowned sky theaters, including the Griffith Park Planetarium in Los Angeles and the Rose Center in New York.

The Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater was constructed in 1996. It was the first giant-screen theater in Wisconsin and remains the state's only IMAX dome. A September 2004 theater upgrade project included the installation of a "Quick Turn Reel Unit" and a new lens that allows the Museum to offer feature-length IMAX films. The theater's 274 seats are being replaced in three phases, the first completed in September 2004.

The theater will be closed for about one month in September 2005 for installation of the major components of the Digistar 3 Laser projection system. The first planetarium shows are planned for January 2006.

The current schedule of IMAX films offers daytime shows throughout the week, with evening shows added on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $8 for adults (16-61), $7 for seniors (62 plus) and $6.50 for children (3-15); feature films are $10 for adults, $9 for children.

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