The ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo has upgraded its planetarium.
The center has been closed since Monday, Nov. 6, for a $720,000 NASA-funded improvement to the planetarium, which features a 10K-resolution system that is utilizing 10 laser-illuminated projectors for a superior graphic performance.
Guests were treated to a preview Friday ahead of the center’s reopening this Wednesday.
The upgraded planetarium will offer a greatly enhanced user experience with special presentations and ‘Imiloa’s science and wayfinding programs.
“We are excited to unveil this brand new state-of-the-art planetarium system that will be an immense benefit to our community and science partners across many different disciplines,” said ‘Imiloa Executive Director Ka‘iu Kimura.
SSIA Technologies consultants installed the new system and have been instructing ‘Imiloa employees on how to utilize the new technology and create content for the planetarium.
On Friday, the SSIA team showed employees and affiliates of ‘Imiloa different data sets that can be explored with the new planetarium system and how much the image quality has improved by going from 4K to 10K resolution.
The audience was taken into deep space, to the International Space Station, Mars and Earth, and was also given a tour of the intricacies of the human body.
“This new system will allow us to greatly expand the educational tools available, from data visualization to video streaming and beyond,” Kimura said.
‘Imiloa is now host to the first 10K-resolution planetarium in Hawaii, which is one of the first of its kind in the country.
The education team at ‘Imiloa will be creating new content for the planetarium, and much of the old content will be reformatted for the new system.
The center is set to return to its normal operating schedule from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The center will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The first special program that will be available using the enhanced system will be two showings of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” planetarium show at 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Those interested in booking tickets can do so by calling (808) 932-8901.
More information about planetarium programs, events and other news from ‘Imiloa can be found at imiloahawaii.org.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.