By Molly Burke / Jambar Contributor
The Youngstown State University community has been without Ward Beecher Planetarium shows since its roof caught fire Jan. 8, 2023, but it’s now preparing for its first show since then.
At noon, a class of 90 students was inside the planetarium when the fire broke out during a roofing installation. There was minimal fire and smoke damage, but Planetarium Engineer Curt Spivey said hundreds of gallons of water damaged lights, telescopes and the planetarium’s dome.
“Domes are designed to [be] lighter weight. They have little holes in them, and basically, when the fire department hit that with water it turned the entire dome into a giant sprinkler,” Spivey said.
It was the first day of the spring semester and the beginning of 20 months without shows or star talks.
“I’ve been in planetarium for 30 years, so not being able to do star talks was like somebody cut off my leg,” Spivey said.
Repairs cost $1.5 million and took over a year to begin, but Spivey said the planetarium is now back and better than ever. It has a new dome, Chronos star projector, sound system and lighting.
“This is a special powder-coated dome called a nano scene dome, and when you shoot video onto this, it looks exactly like a movie screen,” Spivey said. “Now we have five matching theater-quality Martin speakers and a powered subwoofer in the back.”
Students were able to begin fall semester astronomy classes back in the planetarium and the public can see its Grand Reopening shows, Oct. 4-5.
“The first show that’s going to run the month of October is the 50th anniversary of our Halloween show [which] began in 1974 here at Ward Beecher Planetarium. It’s called Night Lights,” Spivey said. “We do full dome video, our cove light system is fully programmable, we make the land lights dance live to the music and we have a good time.”
Patrick Durrell, the planetarium’s director and a professor of physics and astronomy, said while it was hard to put a pause on teaching under the star-lit dome, the good outweighs the bad.
“It was a rather devastating moment to see that happen, but I look around now and I go, ‘This is going to be one of the best college planetariums you’re going to see,’” Durrell said. “It is one of the largest, most updated planetariums in a college university for hours away from here, including places that are much bigger than us.”
Durrell said reconstructing a planetarium is no easy feat, as only two companies in the world make domes, and everything is custom made.
“It’s not like you can just go to the big box stores and buy the parts you need. A lot of the parts were needed — both electrical, behind the scenes, for the Chronos, for the full dome projector — it’s not off the shelf stuff,” Durrell said.
According to YSU’s Director of Planning and Construction Rich White, the dome itself cost $500,000 alone. He said working on the planetarium was a first for him, but a large team made it possible.
“I’ve been here for 35 years almost, and I’ve been through quite a bit of construction here, but this one was certainly unique,” White said. “There was a lot [of people involved], from health and safety down to our department. We have three or four people in our department just working on drawings and getting those things ready.”
Throughout the last 20 months, Spivey and Durrell have been live streaming shows on Facebook to continue engaging with the community. Wim Steelant, dean of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, said the community has shown overwhelming support on social media.
“The community wants to do everything to give back in a very surprising matter. That’s a thing called Youngstown grit, isn’t it? You can burn it down but nobody said it’s not going to come back up,” Steelant said.
The planetarium is free but welcomes donations. Steelant said he and YSU President Bill Johnson want to host a show for those who have continuously donated over the years.
“It’s not official yet, but we’re trying to say a date where we can do like an alumni night, people that have been donating from small amounts to big amounts,” Steelant said. “We want to do something for them.”
The planetarium’s full program schedule for 2024-2025 can be found at wbplanetarium.org