The University of Alaska Fairbanks is building a planetarium as an addition to the University of Alaska Museum of the North.
Alaska's News Source reports that the nearly $9 million project will provide a facility with an 11-meter dome and seating for 65 people. That facility is being built as an addition to the west end of the museum.
The university says the facility will be the farthest north planetarium in North America and will offer a 360-degree immersive theater experience.
The university's Geophysical Institute has wanted a planetarium for decades, said Bob McCoy, the director of the Geophysical Institute at UAF.
McCoy said one of the reasons the group wants to have a planetarium includes is to showcase the research done at the university.
“One of the things that would be nice, with all the tourists coming in the summer, is if we had a planetarium movie,” McCoy said. “So we’re buying cameras. We’re giving them to our researchers when they go in the field. These are planetarium cameras, so they can make movies of whatever research they’re doing.”
McCoy also anticipates students and researchers at the university to use the space to not only feature their work, but interact with the public while doing so.The facility is expected to open in 2026.
