PRAIRIE SMOKE ONLINE
News and Updates
Director's Fire
Spring 2008
As I write this essay in late April, Fargo-Moorhead is recovering from about nine inches of snow, a rude interruption to the warm-up to spring that we had been enjoying for a week or two. However, spring will come, then summer!
Soon the prairie will be alive with the 2008 version of its tallgrasses, and its colorful forbes with the deep green riparian woods along the Buffalo River running through it. Make a point this summer to invite one or more of your favorite people to join you on a walk through the Regional Science Center's Buffalo River Site, Buffalo River State Park and Bluestem Prairie complex just 15 miles east of Moorhead off highway 10. The prairie has a story to tell.
While you are exploring the tallgrass prairie, give some thought, if you are a teacher, to how you might include in your curriculum some of the rich experiences your students might have during a program at our Buffalo River Site. Some knowledge, skills, and understandings can only be gained by your students through a direct total-immersion experience. We would be glad to work with you on developing such a field experience for your class.
If you are a teacher whose classes have come to the Buffalo River Site for years, a walk through the prairie would be a great time to review the field experiences we have provided your classes over the years. What can we do to improve the experience?
If you have an interest in the natural world of the tallgrass prairie or the wonders of the night sky and have some time to volunteer we have deal for you! All you have to do is explore the opportunities using our website. Please go to our website's Volunteer Opportunities tab and explore the volunteer experiences that are available to you.
One volunteer opportunity is with our MAPS Bird Monitoring station. Working with our volunteer banders on one or more banding sessions will be like taking a mini workshop on the study of birds. There is no cost for this experience, except your time. You provide your time and interest, we will supply the rest. Contact us to volunteer.
On our Science Center website is a page that lists the Public Programs for 2008. A number of them are during the summer season. Interpretive center open houses might be a great time to have your walk on the prairie and then come to the interpretive center to get all your questions answered. There is a star party of night sky viewing on August 8th that your family would enjoy. For resources on night sky viewing check the Links/ Astronomy tab on our website.
On May 20th we will close the MSUM Planetarium for about 14 weeks as we complete phase I of our re-modeling and updating. We will install a new heating/cooling system, a new floor, all new seats, and a new handicapped-accessible entrance. We will be ready to re-open for shows by September 14th.
Finally, this year is the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Minnesota as a state. The Regional Science Center will be providing programs by one of our interpretive naturalists in Buffalo River State Park again this summer. See the program schedule on our website. Two dates to keep in mind for a visit to the Park is Sunday June 1, 2008 which is an open house in the Park with no fees to enter. There will be a picnic meal hosted by the Friends of Buffalo River State Park that evening. There will be a special set of programs on June 21, 2008 in celebration of Minnesota's 150 years as a state. A picnic meal will be hosted by the Friends of Buffalo River State Park that evening too. Naturalist lead programs will be available each weekend.
The summer of 2008, gas is $3.50/gallon and probably going higher. Stay close to home this summer and explore the wonderful and educational natural places in our neck of the prairie!
George Davis
Director
Science Center's Planetarium Coordinator Dave Weinrich Working to Help Establish a New Planetarium in Accra, Ghana
Planetarium Coordinator Dave Weinrich has had a special interest in developing countries since his service in the Peace Corps in Liberia and Ghana. Several years ago, he took a sabbatical to do astronomical outreach in Sri Lanka. For the past 2 years, he has served on the governing council of the International Planetarium Society (IPS). On a personal trip to Ghana in 2006, he met Dr. Jacob Ashong who has the dream of building Ghana's first science center. His vision includes a planetarium. The following excerpt is from the December 2007 issue of the IPS journal, the Planetarian. President Susan Reynolds Button writes about the project that Dave and others are undertaking to help Dr. Ashong accomplish his dream.
As part of the Outreach Committee's efforts to assist planetariums in developing countries, David Weinrich reports," We have been talking about ways of helping astronomy educators in developing countries for the past two years. Now we are ready for a pilot project that we hope will lead to future astronomical outreach to many developing countries."
As part of this pilot project a refurbished Mediaglobe digital projector will be donated by Joanne Young at Audio Visual Imagineering, Inc. (AVI) to the Ghana Science Center in Africa. The science center will provide funding for shipping it from Orlando, Florida to Ghana. They will also provide a dome for the projector, identify local science teachers or astronomy enthusiasts who can be trained to operate the system and give shows and provide funding for the training.
Dave explains, "We felt that it is especially important that there be active involvement of personnel and resources from Ghana. They have to be involved in the planning, the implementation and the future operation of the planetarium."
"We believe that it is especially important that local personnel be trained to run the planetarium and that there is adequate documentation of the project for media presentations and for reports to the International Planetarium Society."
Congratulations to David and Joanne for getting this project off the ground. Thank you Joanne for your generosity too, this could not happen without you.
Congratulations also to the Ghana Science Center as the recipient of this gift and for Jacob Ashlong's efforts to make this happen. I eagerly look forward to progress reports about this pilot project and hope that this will be the first of many such initiatives.
Contact Information:
David Weinrich (weinrich@mnstate.edu) Project Coordinator
Jacob Ashong (jacob_ashong@yahoo.com) Ghana Science Center
Planetarium Fund Raising Campaign
October 2007
Thanks to a spring 2007 fundraising campaign conducted in cooperation with the MSUM Alumni Foundation and Dr. Ron Jeppson, Dean of the MSUM College of Social and Natural Sciences, the Regional Science Center has received funds to buy new seats for the MSUM Planetarium.
As a direct result of this successful planetarium seat fund raising campaign, President Roland Barden has agreed to direct university remodeling funds to remodel the planetarium which will include a new floor and carpet, a light-trap door, a second room exit, and some additional code-required improvements. This remodeling including new seat installation is scheduled to be done during the summer of 2008 and will cost over $122,000.
The newly remodeled planetarium will be ready for our fall 2008 program schedule.
We now are working with the MSUM Alumni Foundation staff to identify donors who would fund a new planetarium projector system. What we are proposing is the installation of a GOTO Chronos hybrid planetarium system that includes a new star projector and a full-dome video system. The new projector system will also require a new hemispheric NaoSeam dome. Also, we are proposing a new light system and sound system. The complete installation will cost about $935,000.
To compare cost, our current projector system is almost 37 years old and even though the system has been well maintained, its useful life is about over. When new in 1971, our current system cost about $300,000. Adjusted for inflation over 37 years, that is equivalent to $1,600,000 in today dollars.
In inflation adjusted dollars, our new system would cost 59% of the system bought in 1971. However, the new system would do so much more than our current system. In addition to much improved planetarium shows and views of the night sky from any location on earth and at any time in the past; the full-dome video will allow programs that simulate tours of Mars, a guided tour of a human cell, exploring tropical rain forests to name just a few programs possible. The shows will be unique as they are “total emersion” giving the viewer the sense they are actually there.
We are excited about what has already been accomplished complete upgrading of the MSUM Planetarium and look forward to a new digital projection system that will serve the science education of local college students, PK-12 students, as well as the community for another 40 years.