Palmdale District Needs Donations to Finish Planetarium : Education: Officials say they are halfway to the $500,000 that would convert the domed theater at Cactus Elementary.

In the real world the fiery Halley’s Comet is not slated to make another appearance for about 66 years. In the Palmdale School District, officials hope the famed comet--or virtually any other celestial object--will soon be able to appear in command performances.

The 17,000-student district plans to open a planetarium, where man-made star shows will give students a glimpse of the universe more memorable than what they can garner from a book.

The K-8 district has been working toward the opening of the planetarium for several years and lacks just one basic element to make it come alive: money.

A 3,400-square-foot planetarium theater building was built at Cactus Elementary School two years ago when the 39-year-old campus underwent a state-funded modernization.

“The state would not build a planetarium per se,” said Fred Thompson, president of the district’s board of trustees. “They would build a classroom that ultimately through private funds or other funds not allocated to support the curriculum (could be converted into a planetarium).”

The district has so far raised about half of the nearly $500,000 needed to equip the 40-foot interior dome with a projection system, tilt-back chairs and other items that will transform the theater into an operating planetarium.

The district has received about $29,000 in donations and has saved nearly $192,000 in state furnishings and equipment money. Redevelopment funds from the city of Palmdale added another $32,000.

The idea for the planetarium was born several years ago when officials and board members from the rapidly growing district visited Texas to look at school design. Thompson said one campus housed a planetarium that educators used to enhance learning in a number of fields.

“I was pretty excited about it,” he said. “I thought it would be a good idea if we incorporated something like that in our district.”

Thompson said the planetarium can be used not only for the study of astronomy but also for such fields as mathematics and biology.

“It has other applications, limited only by a teacher’s imagination,” he said.

Once the 105-seat planetarium is a reality, Thompson said, school districts throughout the Antelope Valley as well as people in the community will be able to use it.

Richard Balogh, a physical science professor at Antelope Valley College who used to teach astronomy and has provided technical assistance to the Palmdale School District, said the planetarium offers significant benefits to students.

“You can teach (astronomy) indoors, but a planetarium allows it to be exciting, interesting for the kids,” Balogh said. “A planetarium will leave them with a good memory of that part of science.”

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The only substitute for a planetarium, he said, is a dark sky. “We don’t have that in the Antelope Valley. You have to go farther and farther out to get a dark sky.”

Also, Balogh said, you do not have to wait up half the night in cold weather in hopes of catching a glimpse of a meteor with a planetarium, where you can make the night sky host a meteor shower.

“It’s really an effective teaching tool,” he said, noting that it is the high cost that makes planetariums something of a rarity in schools.

Darrell Smedley, a science and math consultant for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, said the planetarium will be the first in the county on an elementary school campus. Beverly Hills School District has a planetarium at its high school.

“A number of schools own portable, inflatable planetariums,” said Smedley.

“It’s a nice way of teaching . . . helping them understand where we are in the universe, our place in the universe,” he added. “It’s important that kids know what’s out there beyond our atmosphere and where we fit in the scheme of things.”

Judy Fish, assistant superintendent of educational services, said she hopes the planetarium will be operational in a year. The district is considering whether to solicit bids to complete the planetarium and begin work with the money already in hand.

“We have enough to get the project started,” she said. “We would have to do an all-out fund-raiser to get the whole project going.”

For a donation of $300,000, the district is willing to name the planetarium in the donor’s honor, Fish said.

But for those with less to give, there are other ways to have their names included in the theater building. Wall plaques will be mounted on a donor wall. For a $250 gift a person can buy a chair or have a degree of the dome named after him.

“The projection system, slide shows . . . should have an interest for the whole Antelope Valley,” she said. “We hope it will be a cultural attraction and a learning center for students, a resource center for the study of astronomy.”