The Griffon News

The Bushman Planetarium on Western’s campus has released its fall schedule. The series will
start Oct. 1 and end Oct. 9.

The series will begin with two showings of “Light Years from Andromeda,” on Oct. 1 and 2.
This show was selected to start the series in order to coincide with the St. Joseph News-Press
Newspapers in Education: Stories and The Stars.

For the week of Oct. 1 the Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics Department will
sponsor the section of the newspaper on Andromeda.

The last two shows are “More Than Meets The Eye” and “Lewis and Clark” on Oct. 8 and 9.
Mr. Jerry Wilkerson will present all shows.

The planetarium shows not only appeal to Western students, especially those taking astronomy,
but many community groups are showing an interest.

Public schools, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church groups, and others have attended these shows.

Linda Flesher, administrative assistant for Computer Science, Math, and Physics Department,
said that due to the success of past series they began a summer series in 2007.

“We ended up adding about three or four shows,” Flesher said.

“I think summertime is a good time to do this because in the fall and winter people get really
busy. In the summer it worked out great.”

There are also plans for a new show to be brought to campus. “MarsQuest” is planned to premiere
in the Spring. Dr. Chris Godfrey, technical producer, says the show was added due to interest
in Mars exploration.

“Mr. Wilkerson suggested that one because of the past and current Mars expeditions: the sort of
robotic rovers that are crawling around Mars, both in the last few years and now again as we
speak,” Godfrey said. “He thought that would be a good one to generate public interest.”

Each show costs an average of $1,500 including the soundtrack and slides. Funding for the planetarium comes from two sources.

They receive an operating budget through Western and they have a revenue account from the attendance fees.

This money is used for maintenance and materials.

The planetarium was opened in the fall of 1969 and was not updated until 1998 to keep up
with the computer generation. Wilkerson has been the shows’ presenter from the beginning.

“Just about everything in here is computer controlled and before that was not the case,” Wilkerson said. “Actually we used to change the things you see by hand.”

The planetarium is located at Agenstein 105. The eveningshows start at 7 p.m., are about
an hour long and cost three dollars per person. To reserve your spot call 816-271-4370.