A CLOSE-UP LOOK AT ORION UNPRECEDENTED PHOTO MOSAIC OPENING AT PLANETARIUM.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer PALMDALE - Palmdale School District's Sage Planetarium planetarium, optical device used to project a representation of the heavens onto a domed ceiling; the term also designates the building that houses such a device. A modern planetarium consists of as many as 150 motor-driven projectors mounted on an axis. will unveil Wednesday a mural-size photographic mosaic Not to be confused with color filter mosaic. In the field of photographic imaging, a photographic mosaic (also known under the term Photomosaic, a portmanteau of photo and mosaic, trademarked by Runaway Technology, Inc. of a turbulent star birth cloud taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe. . The planetarium is the only venue in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County and one of two in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, that will debut the 4-by-4, 140-image seamless mosaic of the Great Orion Nebula Orion Nebula, bright diffuse nebula in the constellation Orion; also known as the Great Nebula of Orion and cataloged as M42 or NGC 1976. It is located near the middle of the "sword" hanging from Orion's "belt" of stars. . ``They had everybody write in who was interested and they selected them,'' planetarium director Jeremy Amarant said, explaining how Sage was chosen as one of the showcase venues. ``We wanted to be one of the flagship showings.'' The event is part of the Hubble Space Telescope science team's educational outreach program, Amarant said. The image will be unveiled the same day at 60 places around the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. - and it can't be shown until then. The other venue displaying it in Southern California is a science center in Santa Barbara, Amarant said. Palmdale and Santa Barbara are among the five sites in California. ``We have the first printed version of it ready to go. We are part of the media release,'' Amarant said. Palmdale students will view the galactic image, one of the largest images ever taken by the Hubble Telescope, from 7 a.m. to noon Wednesday. District officials and school board members are scheduled to come between noon and 3 p.m., and the public is invited from 3 to 8 p.m. The planetarium is located at 38060 20th St. East. The Hubble image can be viewed on Thursday by appointment by calling Amarant at (661) 273-7646, and on Friday from 6 to 7 p.m. There also will be two public nights scheduled for Feb. 22 and 23. For more information and to make a reservation, call Tove at the Palmdale School District The Palmdale School District is a school district that serves a major part of the city of Palmdale, California (USA). The Palmdale School District was first formed in 1888. Approximately 28,000 students are enrolled in the Palmdale School District. office at (661) 266-7233. The image is described as a stunning photograph of the famous Great Orion Nebula that shows the star birth cloud in unprecedented detail. The Hubble, an Earth-orbiting observatory, was launched into space on April 25, 1990. Hubble orbits above Earth's murky atmosphere, which distorts light from celestial objects. During its more than 15 years in space, the Hubble has taken more than 700,000 snapshots of celestial objects such as galaxies, dying stars and giant gas clouds, the birthplace of stars. The telescope also shot images of chunks of a comet slamming into Jupiter and galaxies that existed billions of years ago. Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com |
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