This is Oakland’s Planetarium
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The 241-seat full dome planetarium is a crowning jewel of STEM education at Chabot, along with interactive hands-on exhibits, space artifacts, a giant screen theater, and research-level telescopes.
At Chabot, the Digital Sky Planetarium Projection system creates the celestial magic in our Planetarium. This system is used to inspire and educate students, teachers, and visitors during their visits to Chabot.
It’s more than just a projection system. Digital Sky enables Chabot educators to create and customize shows for early learners and for audiences of all ages, inspiring 150,000 visitors annually.
Some Planetarium components were purchased back in 2003, the year of CD-roms, iPod Shuffles, and Myspace. Unfortunately, this dated system has begun to fail regularly, causing cancelled shows and disappointment for students and visitors alike.
To reinvigorate the Planetarium and its ability to inspire and educate, we are seeking one-time funding of $89,000. This enables Chabot to replace and upgrade the Digital Sky servers, service and overhaul the seven full dome projectors, and repair and replace the projector’s bulbs, opening the doors for more memories, stories, and learning opportunities across our Universe – all from the hills of Oakland.
How can you help?
Here’s what we need:
Digital Sky High-Performance, High Reliability Server Upgrade = $56,000
Projector servicing (7 projectors, $3,500 each) = $24,500
Bulb replacement = $8,500
Total Campaign cost = $89,000
Additional Notes on Funding
Every dollar goes to creating learning opportunities in our Planetarium. Any funds raised above and beyond the hardware costs will be used to create new, innovative, STEM planetarium shows for learners of all ages. Help us create new programming to showcase the capabilities of our upgraded system!
In the unfortunate event that we don’t reach our goal, all funds raised will still go towards upgrading these Planetarium components.
Other Ways You Can Help
Help us spread the word! Please share this campaign on social media and make sure to tell your friends. As a community-based resource, we rely on support from members of our community. Even if you are unable to give, sharing this campaign connects us with your network of friends and family to make this goal a reality.
The Impact
Technology has come a long way since 2003, and upgrading ours will bring our Planetarium quality a long way too. Imagine vibrant, powerful, compelling astronomy and STEM-based shows that use modern technology to deliver an innovative educational experience.
Without this critical repair and upgrade, the Planetarium will continue to suffer. And that’s a problem.
Chabot will lose our ability to harness the power of visual storytelling to engage, inspire, and educate those who walk through our doors. Getting the Planetarium full dome digital theater system functioning in a stable state is a critical priority for the people of Oakland.
This upgrade will evolve this immersive viewing experience for learners of all ages. It will be more reliable and will create an optimized visual learning environment for all Chabot visitors.
Donate NowSee The Full Campaign on Indie Gogo
