City College’s Best Kept Secret: The Planetarium

 

 

 By Henry Crowell
henrycrowell5@gmail.com

 

City College students keep a historical but aging planetarium alive after decades of turmoil.

A group of student volunteers, known as the Astronomy Outreach, maintains the planetarium, which is used as a learning and public event space.

The brass dome on top of Science Hall has a turbulent and murky history. It was initially built as an observatory and opened alongside Ocean Campus in 1940. However, due to World War II, a telescope was never installed.

It remains unclear when the observatory was converted into a planetarium. The book City College of San Francisco claims a star projector was installed in 1950, but members of the Astronomy department tell different stories.

 The department chair of astronomy, Lancelot Kao, said, “In the 1960s, they decided to get this old sky projector,” referring to the large gray piece of machinery now sitting on the unused telescope base. “This one is here since 1967, only a few years younger than me…This is kind of an antique now.”

The shiny metal telescope base still pierces through the center of the building, relegated to a poster board for student flyers.

 

 

Claia Briyja, a professor who leads the Astronomy Outreach, said, “My understanding is that it was all put in in 1971, it was a big huge expensive top-of-the-line thing and I gotta assume it was put to extensive use, I mean, the college asked for something really really good with all kinds of special effects and all kinds of amazing state of the art stuff for the era.”

This account is corroborated by a Guardsman article, dated March 18, 1970, which states that the projector cost $20,000, a mere $165,000 in 2024 dollars. 

It has been put to good use, as Professor Briyja said, “ The particular projecting system, only two survive in the entire country…it’s probably been 15 years since I even heard something about that one functioning, so for all I know we’re down to one, so in that sense, it’s a museum piece.”

This entirely analog projector, along with the planetarium, is looked after by the outreachers mentioned above. 

They also hold public events known as “Star Parties,” which are held in this location and a new digital and inflatable planetarium and will occur twice more this semester, on October 30 and November 13.

However, the planetarium is not without its problems. “It’s got a leaky dome, unfortunately, water is leaking in,” said Briyja. “It really worries me that the surrounding dome has rusted through, and every winter, we’re gonna have the issue of water coming in, and we have to be very careful with what’s in there so that nothing is damaged.” 

This water damage has also caused stains to appear on the stark white canvas covering the inside of the dome.

The much smaller observatory and the 14-inch telescope within it have fallen into a much worse state of disrepair. Opened in 1978, according to City College of San Francisco, the outside of its dome is now covered in rust, with visible gaps between the dome and the structure’s body. Furthermore, the telescope was broken in 2010, which Briyja calls a “series of unfortunate events.” 

 

Another obstacle facing the planetarium is accessibility. It is on Science Hall’s fourth and final floor, which is only reachable by stairs. 

According to Professor Kao, this is “why our department pushed to get a portable, miniature one”. Although significantly smaller, this solves the issue of accessibility and digitality.

The Astronomy Outreachers is open for anyone to join and learn about astronomy. Alfonso Galvez, a member of the group, said, “As someone who went into this group knowing nothing about astronomy, I recommend people check this group out and ask questions. They’re really nice and willing to help with anything.”

The renovation of the planetarium, its funding, and the confirmation that it will remain here for years to come are all still up in the air. 

Professor Kao, who has held a position at City College since 1997, said, “The Steam building, there’s a plan, if you ask the faculty of planning, if there’s some money left over [after the steam building is built] to upgrade the science building, but let’s see what happens.” 

Professor Briyja said, “I’m trying to keep the old one open. The fact that we have a new one that’s state-of-the-art, actual 2020 technology makes me worried that the administration will go, “Why do you need both?” and I do want to staunchly defend keeping the unique character of this old thing alive.”