MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The future of the Barlow Planetarium seems safe, even with the UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus closing.
Now, they’re expanding their footprint across Northeast Wisconsin with a new portable planetarium.
“We’re hoping that this will be something that shows the reach of the Barlow and the potential that we have,” said Barlow Planetarium Director Teri Gee. “We’ve been doing this for 27 years, and this is something we can keep doing and even do more than we’ve been doing, up to now.”
It may be a wise move, especially as its neighbor, the Weis Earth Science Museum, is close to being moved to the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton.
The Barlow’s portable planetarium is the largest in Wisconsin, holding about 40 people and spanning 15 feet high and 25 feet wide. It cost $70,000 — $58,000 of which came from a grant.
The planetarium can be packed and transported anywhere within driving distance. The staff can then set it up in any indoor area capable of holding a structure of that size.
“It’s really good because there are some schools in particular that can’t make it to the Barlow,” said Richard Beal, president of NEWSTAR, an astronomy club in Northeast Wisconsin. “It’s either too far away or too expensive for them to rent buses, so this planetarium can go to the schools and go to local events around the region.”
Gee added that it will primarily be driven around Northeast Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
If you want to create lifelong learners, this is certainly one way to do it.
“I was six or seven years old and we went on a field trip to a planetarium,” said Gee, recalling when fell in love with astronomy. “That’s the first time I remember being really excited about astronomy, and I kind of kept ahold of that the rest of my life.”
