Another reason for people 'to come Downtown'

News

Staff Writer

Big changes are coming to the Museum of Science & History. How big?

As big as the universe itself.

That was the theme at Thursday’s official announcement of the new Bryan Gooding Planetarium at the Alexander Brest Theater. Mayor John Peyton, joined by MOSH Executive Director Maria Hane, Carter and Cheryl Bryan and Julie Davis from the Bryan Family Trustees of the Henry & Lucy Gooding Endowment, pulled the cords that revealed the logo for the new theater and a clock counting down to the grand opening of the new planetarium.

“You won’t recognize the planetarium when we get through,” said planetarium designer Philip Groce, who was the museum’s planetarium director 30 years ago and created the “Cosmic Concerts.”

The project was initiated June 21 with a $465,000 gift from the Bryan Family Trustees of the Henry & Lucy Gooding Endowment to purchase a new state-of-the-art projector. Groce said the new device has “four times the definition of your HDTV at home” and the current system “just projects stars. The new system can project anything we can imagine.”

He also said, “This project is about the importance of education and allowing your children to dream and be inspired. That’s the promise of this planetarium.”

MOSH board chair John Magevney said the upgrade project is a way for the museum to “hop on the wave of technology that has improved in the 25 years since the planetarium opened. The new technology really knocks your socks off.”

Since the first gift was presented, other donors have added to the capital campaign to renovate the theater, including $30,000 from the Nichols Family Foundation, $30,000 from the Wells Fargo Foundation and $15,000 from EverBank. MOSH is actively raising funds to complete the $1 million project.

Hane said the final performance in the current planetarium will be Aug. 23 when the star projector will descend into the floor for the last time. A grand opening celebration for the new facility is scheduled Oct. 23. At the moment of its unveiling, a countdown clock below the new signage indicated 106 days, 20 hours, 39 minutes and 52 seconds until the debut of the new planetarium.

“It means so much to have people like this invest in the community. MOSH has been a tremendous resource for almost four generations in a part of Downtown that we’re focusing on. This is one more thing we can do to give people a reason to come Downtown,” said Peyton.