It's been a long road for the Ward Beecher Planetarium since a fire broke out in the planetarium and shut its doors in January of 2023. Now 18 months later a vital piece, the dome, was delivered Wednesday.

"One thing that did not survive was the dome, so we had to get a brand new dome. A planetarium is basically a dome with a room around it, so this is the central piece," says Ward Beecher Planetarium Engineer Curt Spivey. 

The dome installation will take 4 to 5 weeks according to Spivey, but once that is done, the final touches on the ground floor of the planetarium can begin.

The last time the Ward Beecher Planetarium saw an upgrade on its dome was in 1967, the same year it was installed. This time around the technology upgrade is pretty substantial.

"This dome is called nano-technology. They are going to build a superstructure behind and then attach the panels, but it's designed to handle video. When you shoot video on it, it will be just like a movie screen you won't see the seams at all it will be seamless," says Spivey. 

Spivey and the planetarium staff are eager to get students and the public back for their famous star talks. Spivey says before the pandemic forced them to postpone in-person talks and tours in 2020, the planetarium was welcoming 17,000 visitors annually.

"I have enjoyed doing my Facebook live events but they aren't anything like the real thing of being in this space. I always say with my shows, if I can get someone to go out and look at the night sky I've done my job and it's hard to do that when you are doing a Facebook live event. I feel like I have an itch I can't scratch really," adds Spivey.

SPIVEY SAYS THEIR HOPE IS TO HAVE THE PLANETARIUM OPEN FOR STUDENTS THIS FALL SEMESTER AND TO HAVE TALKS AND TOURS AVAILABLE at SOME TIME THIS FALL.