Four Canadian planetaria are producing a show about a key theme in Canadian astronomy — origins. The Planétarium de Montréal, The Manitoba Museum Planetarium (Winnipeg), the Calgary Science Centre Discovery Dome and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (Vancouver) — have received a grant from the Heritage Canada Museum Assistance Program to produce a full-length planetarium show entitled “The Quest for Origins — La quête des origines”. This multi-media program will premiere in May 2004 in all four planetaria. It will highlight discoveries and contributions made by Canadian astronomers, generate excitement in and support for new observatory projects, and provide a thought-provoking exploration of the most fascinating question: how did it all begin?
This 35-minute-long show will document
our quest for the origin of stars, planets and galaxies and describe our
current understanding of the large-scale structure of the Universe, all of this
in the rich immersive setting of a planetarium theater. This fast-paced show
will include full-dome imagery, state-of-the-art computer graphics and a rich
and textured soundtrack with narration available in both French and English.
The primary audience target is the general public, namely families with children ages 9 to 14. The secondary audience target are school groups from grades 6 to 9, for which there are strong Sky Science and Space Exploration units in all provincial curricula.
Given that the host facilities will run the show typically for 4 to 6 months in a prime slot, we expect an audience of approximately 150,000 to 200,000 people in the first year. Since the show will likely run in repertory rotation with other programs at most facilities for 2 to 3 years afterward, this will give an overall audience of approximately 350,000 people throughout Canada.
No one facility could tackle creating the show entirely. This is why we will distribute the work load across Canada, with one main facility (Montréal) acting as production coordinator. Common planetarium shows have been staged across Canada before, but in the past these have been centralized productions that were then distributed. This will be the first shared production across Canada. The show will be directed by Alan Dyer in Calgary.
The host facilities have excellent in-house talent for creating computer animations, graphic art pieces, and edited video clips, as well as conducting on-location still photography for 360° panoramic scenes unique to the planetarium medium. For this show we will conduct location shoots in the observatories in Chile, Hawaii and at DRAO in Penticton.
We have hired Ken Hewitt-White as a script writer. Ken is well known for his excellent work as a science magazine and television writer, and he has a long relationship with the planetarium world. Some other production work will be contracted out (music, recording studios, narrators, etc.) but most show work will be handled by existing planetarium staff.
A coordinating committee representing each participating institution, will supervise the overall creation and production. The members of the committee are:
· Pierre Chastenay, astronomer, Planétarium de Montréal chastenay@astro.umontreal.ca
· Scott D. Young, Planetarium of the Manitoba Museum scyoung@manitobamuseum.ca
· Alan Dyer, astronomer, Calgary Science Centre alan.dyer@calgaryscience.ca
· Erik Koelemeyer, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre ekoeleme@hrmacmillanspacecentre.com
Feel free to contact these individuals if you need more information on this project or if you have access to imagery (still images or video) that could be useful in the production of this show. The input of the Canadian professionnal community is essential to the success of this project!
Pierre Chastenay, astronomer, Planétarium de Montréal