By Eric Christensen
The Hansen Planetarium at 15 S. State in Salt Lake City is awaiting a decision from Salt Lake County that could change its address to the new Gateway retail and entertainment complex west of the Delta Center.
Pending a transfer of power from Salt Lake County to the Children''s Museum of Utah, county spokesman Jim Braden said they hope to get the planetarium moved as soon as possible.
'The facility would be state of the art,' Braden said.
But for some, a new facility will not be the same.
For Corry Jones, 25, from Salt Lake City, attending the University of Utah as a science major, the planetarium holds a lifetime of memories.
'We used to take fieldtrips there when I was in elementary school. I used to be able to spot six or seven constellations in the sky after we visited the planetarium,' Jones said.
Recently the planetarium has initiated stronger children''s programs than ever before.
Those programs, according to Susan Harris, public relations coordinator for the planetarium, reach almost 100,000 children yearly.
The main children''s program is called Project Astrovan, which, according to Harris, travels to all 40 counties in Utah and teaches children, grades four through nine, about astronomy.
'The kids around the state get to find out, hands on, what our solar system is all about. (Hansen Planetarium) does this program to improve science education,' Harris said.
In its 35-year history, the planetarium has been a place to see some amazing events as well as be educational. Jason Williams, 25, from Sandy, remembers one of these.
'The year Halley''s Comet went by (my class) went up to the planetarium, and we got to see it through one of the telescopes,' he said.
According to Williams, the planetarium was also a place to see an eclipse this last Christmas.
'We paid two bucks and got to see a partial eclipse from the planetarium,' he said.
Williams and others saw a 34.9 percent eclipse of the sun on Christmas Day.
While events are amazing to see, some like to use the Hansen Planetarium on a daily basis. Jones uses its Web site, hansenplanetarium.net, daily to follow the ins and outs of space.
'I was able to find out that on February 8, 2001, at 12:12 a.m. the moon was full for this cycle,' he said.
Jones also found out the moon will rise at 6:39 p.m. on Feb. 9 and set in the west at 9:16 a.m. the next morning.
'On my way to school in the mornings, it''s interesting to see the moon go down at around 9 (a.m.),' Jones said.
According to Harris, people at the planetarium have seen many other amazing, solar events.
Some that stood out to Harris were the Skylab in 1979, a solar eclipse in 1991 and comet Hale-Bopp in 1997.
Although the special events and Web site might be great, the planetarium continues to attract viewers for its star shows.
Harris said the first star show, in 1965, was 'Star of Bethlehem,' which she says continues to be a favorite shown every Christmas season.
'There''s a show for everyone in the family to see from age 4 to 94. Adults can see our most popular presentation 'Super Nova,' which combines Kurt Bestor''s music and some amazing star shots. Teens and college-age kids can see a laser show with the music of Led Zeppelin or U2. And kids will like 'Where in the Universe is Carmen Sandiego,' said Harris
Wherever Hansen Planetarium calls home for its next 35 years, its leaders want to do it showing the world all the other possibilities in space.
According to its mission statement, Hansen Planetarium hopes to 'foster a sense of wonder and a thirst for learning about the cosmos, about space sciences, and about science in our daily lives.'
'Our mission is to make science easily accessible to the public,' Harris said. 'We want them to have access to and learn about astronomy.'