Facility reveals new Joseph Ciotti can't see the expressions of his audience in the darkened theater, but the oohs and aahs tell him the students' eyes are open with wonder and amazement.
worlds to students
A Windward college professor's
vision becomes reality with
the new ImaginariumBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comHe takes them on journeys through stars, fleecy clouds, observatory domes, volcanoes, coral reefs, a living cell, the ocean and even on a roller coaster ride through space.
This is only a sampling of the myriad adventures in store for students and the public in the Hokulani ("starry heaven") Imaginarium at Windward Community College.
Ciotti chose today for dedication of the $4 million state-of-the-art facility because it's Discoverers' Day and the fourth anniversary of the dedication of the adjacent cutting-edge science building.
Ciotti calls the new structure "Imaginarium," explaining it isn't just a planetarium, but a multidisciplinary and multimedia science and education facility.
"We can turn it into a cathedral, the Himalayas, into space or volcanoes," he said.
The name comes from the slogan for his popular Aerospace Exploration Lab: "Let your imagination take flight ... where the sky is not the limit." He tells students, "Whatever you can dream, that's what we're going for."
The Imaginarium is a dream for a man who has had stars in his eyes since he was a kid.
The community college professor of astronomy, physics and math began working summers at age 16 at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City with hopes of "getting into astronomy and into space over time." But he said, "I never dreamt I would build a planetarium."
One of the first University of Hawaii astronomy graduates, Ciotti joined Windward Community College in 1987 when a new science building was in the conceptual stage. He suggested including a planetarium to support the earth, marine and space science program.Hawaii was the only state or U.S. territory that had no planetarium in an educational institution, he said.
He went to Canada, Europe and across the mainland, mostly at his own expense, to scout planetariums. He chose a lot of the design of the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord, N.H., combined with his own ideas.
The facility has a 40-foot dome (the Bishop Museum planetarium dome is 30 feet), 66 unidirectional seats and four reserved areas for wheelchairs, interactive controls so the audience can participate in the program or vote in a "town hall" meeting, special listening devices for the hearing impaired and multilanguage broadcast capabilities.
A Digistar II projector has a three-dimensional wire frame for animated graphics. "Anything you can put on the computer you can put on the dome," Ciotti said, projecting the International Space Station across the sky with the space shuttle docking.
The facility also has 70 SkySkan special-effects projectors and a six-speaker sound system. SkySkan, located in Nashua, N.H., helped him design the theater and install the equipment as an unpaid consultant, he said.
"It's really neat, all the special effects we can do. We can simulate the big bang or the atmosphere of a planet or a storm with lightning bolts."
Students can visit the northern lights, the constellations and other planets. They can see the impact of a comet on extinction of dinosaurs, witness lunar and solar eclipses and other scientific phenomena.
DVD movies can be shown in the dome, and students can be linked with the space shuttle and other NASA broadcasts.
Delighted school groups have previewed the Imaginarium, and Ciotti's astronomy and Polynesian voyaging classes already are using it.
"Students are saying they want to be in class because they want to be in the planetarium," he said.
He eventually wants students to produce their own shows, learning marketable skills for television and movies.
Besides appealing to K-12 and older students, Ciotti stresses that the planetarium is a community facility. The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation has just awarded him $93,000 to help start outreach programs.
The aerospace lab has about 4,000 visitors annually, and Ciotti expects the planetarium to double or triple that.
A Bishop Museum planetarium lecturer for 30 years, he said three full-timers are needed to run the college facility. He hopes to get a graphic artist and technician part time. But for now, Ciotti, recipient of many national science and teaching awards, is the operator, programmer and teacher.
A special Halloween show with ghosts and spiders and other spooky things is planned for a public preview of the planetarium: Spooky special
>> When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Oct. 26
>> Where: Windward Community College, Kaneohe
>> Admission: $1 for a child 12 years and under; $2 for all others
>> School groups: Scheduling will begin next month
>> Public viewing: Opening will be in January.