Still Reaching for the Stars

It was a day of celebration at Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium, located on the campus of Texas A&M International University, as they celebrated 9 years since its opening in 2005.

The celebration began at 11 am in the morning on April 12th which they had dance performances, games, snacks, and the showing of the Disney animation film.
The TAMIU dance troupe started the dance performances at 11:30am and was later followed by dancers from Claudia's Performance Arts studio at 3:30pm which drew quite a crowd. In the lecture room across the hall from the planetarium entrance, game tables and a face painting station were set up for kids to enjoy. Interspaced between the fun and activities, there were five feature showings of the Disney's WALL-E at noon, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, and 8pm.

However, the planetarium is not only open to the public for this special event. Over the course of the nine years the LBV Planetarium has been opened to the public for which they have had regular shows on Friday and Saturdays. They hope to begin having more shows on other days, such as Tuesdays, for the community. They also provide special shows for schools from all over South Texas, as far as Corpus Christi to west of Laredo. Peter Davis, the Director for the LBV Planetarium says, "The planetarium is a great and unique environment for education so anything that can be imagined can be shown. We do shows on geology, oceanography, and other such educational topics. We also hope to begin producing our own shows such as in the history of TAMIU and Laredo."

According to its webpage, the TAMIU LBV Planetarium is one of the most sophisticated planetariums in the State of Texas and operates a state-of-the-art digital projection system allowing not only a view from Earth, but from any part of the known universe; allowing the planetarium to take audiences to structures unseen, except through highly developed telescopes. As stated by Davis, "It shows video over the whole dome allowing for an immersive environment."

So what else is in the future for the planetarium?

Davis hopes to be able to continue to improve the projection system at the LBV Planetarium in the coming years from the CRT guns to a full 4K technology similar to the technology use in current movie theaters. However, it may be better because it can fully immerse the audience as the images will come from behind the audiences perspective. He also hopes the LBV Planetarium can host more public and private events. With the ability to create fascinating atmospheres, the LBV Planetarium can be used, for example, weddings. What could be more romantic than promising you future partner to love and cherish each other underneath the beauty of the universe.

It sounds like we can reach for the stars at the LBV Planetarium.

For further information on what is showing and for party packages, visit Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium website here, by calling 956-326-2463, or by emailing planetarium@tamiu.edu.

(Judith Mae Aguilar can be reached at judithaguilar@dusty.tamiu.edu.)