Even before today's opening of the new Sheila M. Clark Planetarium, it became a magnet for Utah educators.
Starting Monday and continuing through the first of June, school groups will be touring the new facility at The Gateway. And that's not just a handful of classes to visit the moon and Mars attractions, exhibits, science shop, star shows, weather display, IMAX movies and concession shop.
"We have 10,000 kids booked for reservations to come on field trips here," says planetarium director Seth Jarvis, "just in the last six weeks of the school year."
If a pre-opening tour is any indication, students and teachers will leave the $19 million planetarium with stars in their eyes.
"It's a lot bigger and better than our old one," said Jarvis, referring to the former Hansen Planetarium, 15 S. State. Clark Planetarium has four times the public space, he said.
"It features Utah's only real IMAX theater. It features the world's first digital star theater, a pit-less design, nothing in the middle of the room to obstruct views."
The 205-seat Digistar dome allows projection of computer graphics and high-resolution videos. The 55-foot, tilted dome and sloped stadium-style seating give every viewer a fine view of the projected "horizon" for star shows.
The planetarium is named for the late Sheila M. Clark, mother of Michael Clark, chairman of the Clark Foundation. Early in 2002, the Clark Foundation made a $1 million donation for construction of the planetarium.
The IMAX theater will offer the closest experience to actual space travel any Utahn has had — with the exception of former astronaut Don Lind and ex-Sen. Jake Garn, who rode on the space shuttle.
Its 12,000-watt sound system uses seven channels, compared with two that are standard for music CDs. The sub-woofer alone taps into 2,000 watts and is one of at least 40 speakers used during movies.
"We tell very compelling stories about science that connect you to the universe," Jarvis said.
IMAX movies have such high resolution that they are on film 10 times the size of ordinary 35mm film.
Some IMAX shows, including the first offering at the planetarium, are shot using a special 3-D camera. Audiences will wear polarized glasses that ensure each eye sees a separate view, which the brain combines into a three-dimensional image.
Inside a dust-proof projection room, film loops into the projectors from horizontal carriers. Two reels of film are required, each weighing 600 or 700 pounds. A 40-minute movie requires seven miles of film.
"Because we do 3-D, we have a right eye and a left eye" reel, said Jim Erickson, director of the IMAX theater. The projectors use 7,000-watt lamps to show the photos on the vast screen.
"To give you an idea how bright those are, you could actually point those up into space, and those who are on the International Space Station . . . could literally see that," he added.
It's an appropriate analogy. "Space Station," narrated by Tom Cruise, is the first film to be shown in the IMAX theater. It was shot by astronauts aboard the orbiting station.
"They turn out to be very talented cinematographers," Jarvis said. They tell a story about becoming astronauts or cosmonauts, training and working in space.
The 3-D realism is so impressive that viewers are immersed in the experience, Jarvis said. "In a room full of kids, you see them reaching out. They want to grab the astronaut's tether."
Astronomy shows in the Hansen theater will begin on the half-hours, while the IMAX theater's offerings will be on the hour. IMAX tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for children 12 and younger. Star theater tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for children. Combination passes for both theaters are $10 for adults and $5 for children.
The planetarium will be open seven days a week.
"Between these two theaters, as you exit the IMAX and enter the star theater, you walk right down this incredible 'Parade of Planets,' which is all the planets in the solar system shown at their correct scale size," Jarvis said.
The globes hang from the ceiling of the upper floor, illuminated against a backdrop of space. Examining the differences in size, an observer sees that Earth is a relatively small blue sphere, compared with the gas planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Clark Miles of Western Paleontological Laboratory, based in Lehi, was among half a dozen workmen finishing a room that recreates the lunar and Martian landscapes. There, visitors will examine the planetarium's moon rock and watch a video of astronauts collecting it.
One side of the room simulates the moon, the other Mars. The lunar side is gray, while Mars' landscape is red ground studded with dark basalt boulders.
"The red material is a concrete stain, but we also have sand, an all-purpose sand," said Miles. "It's called Jurassic sand."
What will the Mars exhibit look like once it's finished?
"It's going to be just like Mars. Exactly like Mars," Miles said.
The lunar and Martian landscapes have photographic mural backdrops, so the dioramas seem to continue toward the horizons of those exotic places.
"This is where the astronauts walked 30 years ago," Jarvis said of the moon side. Referring to the Mars section he added, "This is where astronauts will be walking 30 years from now."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com