PLANETARIUMSPLANETARIUMS
Tom Falvey in the newly opened antique
telescope gallery at South Carolina State Museum
TOM FALVEY
A state-of-the-art planetarium and observatory is the latest addition to the South Carolina State Museum. We talk to the director of education about the project Alice Davis, managing editor, Attractions Management
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his August, the South Carolina State Museum (SCSM) opened a new planetarium, observatory and 4D theatre. The $23m (£14m, €18m) expansion,
known as Windows to New Worlds, places the prestigious museum at the forefront of science, technology and astronomy education. The project is expected to drastically increase tourism to the area. The new additions are the BlueCross
BlueShield of South Carolina Planetarium, the Boeing Observatory, the Rev Dr Solomon Jackson Jr 4D Theatre, an antique telescope gallery, a NASA gallery and and a museum shop, café and meeting spaces. The lobby of the original 1894 textile mill that houses the SCSM received extensive renovations. Visitors now walk through a new glass entrance below 36,000 pounds (16,000kg) of steel
telescope legs, which support the refractor in the fourth-floor observatory above. Attractions Management spoke to
the director of education and curator of science and technology, Tom Falvey, who’s been with the museum since 2000.
Can you tell us about the observatory? The 2,500sq ft (232sqm) observatory has a terrace with views of the city. We installed a 1926 Alvan Clark refractor, a 12 3/8-inch telescope that was in Columbia University, New York City, until 1997. We put new drives on it, fit it with computer controls and go-to technology. Boeing funded the STEM programming, and the goal is for schools to have remote access to the telescope so they can control it and take pictures from their classrooms. It’s a simple MITC solution, but I think we must be the only people in the world who would do this with a vintage instrument.
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There’s an antique telescope gallery? Yes, the telescope gallery is home to 50 antique telescopes, dating from 1730, and one of the best collections of American refractors in the world, with many Alvan Clarks. The London instruments are spectacular – we have Jesse Ramsden and Dollond instruments, some of the most beautiful European instruments you’ll find.
Were they acquired since this process began? They were part of the whole idea. Our donor, Robert Ariail, promised to donate his collection in 2004. He was on our board of directors when the observatory and planetarium plans began.
How about the planetarium? The planetarium is a 55-foot (17-metre) Spitz screen dome housed in a big glass cube, similar to the idea behind the
AM 4 2014 ©Cybertrek 2014
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