About the Mobile Planetarium
Our presenters bring their enthusiasm and expertise to schools and other indoor spaces while giving shows that include imagery from the Solar System to the edge of the observable universe. Like the name suggests, the UW Mobile Planetarium is portable, and can be setup in under an hour by a small team of people. When inflated the fabric dome is approximately 10 feet high and 20 foot wide.
Request a Visit
The UW Mobile Planetarium is an all-volunteer operation and receives many more requests than it’s possible to accommodate. We're reworking our scheduling system, please check back in January to request a show!
Construction Details
The planetarium’s dome is an inflatable Go-Dome. We run Microsoft Research’s World Wide Telescope software on a laptop computer. A large hemispherical mirror projects the image from the back of the dome to create an immersive experience for the audience.
- Our Do-It-Yourself guide to making your own planetarium like ours! The UW Mobile Planetarium DIY Guide (5 MB pdf). Published on arXiv:1404.3302.
- A guide to building our optics box (6 MB pdf).
- The poster by Justin Gailey, et al., The University of Washington Mobile Planetarium: Bringing HST Science to Seattle Public Schools (2 MB pdf), includes our equipment choices, as well as links to some of the resources we used. Presented at the American Astronomical Society Meeting 221, Poster number 246.04, January 2013.
Presenter Resources
Read reference information about mobile planetarium dimensions, equipment checklist, and setup procedure.
The UW Mobile Planetarium in the News
- The University of Washington Mobile Planetarium: A Do-it-yourself Guide CAP journal, July 2014.
- Portable planetarium offers night sky view in Forks Peninsula Daily News, April 30 2013.
- UW graduate students buy portable planetarium UW Daily, February 4, 2013.
- Astronomy to go: UW readies new portable planetarium UW News, January 24, 2013.
- Port Angeles alum brings the stars back to old campus Peninsula Daily News, December 13, 2012.
Special Thanks
The UW Mobile Planetarium was made possible through education and public outreach grant EO-12512 from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which itself is funded primarily through NASA.