The planetarium at the New Jersey State Museum is one of the capital city’s most prominent landmarks. Its bright white dome rises like an alien spaceship along Route 29, which skirts the back of the Capitol Complex where the planetarium resides.
Modern planetariums are movie theaters, first and foremost. Yes, visitors to the New Jersey State Museum also get to enjoy the stars of the night sky projected onto the ceiling of that dome, accompanied by a “sky talk” presented by planetarium staff. But these sky talks are merely a prelude to the main attraction: a high-definition motion picture short that has been specially formatted for planetarium viewing.
The movies have proven to be successful in entertaining visitors at planetariums across the nation. Schoolchildren arrive by the busload during weekday field trips, followed by tourists in their SUVs on weekends. NJSM has a catalog of show licenses stretching back to the early 2000s, says curator Jacob Hamer, many of which are still in the regular rotation today.
But the planetarium is also always adding new shows into the mix, such as “Spark: the Universe in Us” and “We Are Guardians,” two 2023 short films that have had their NJSM premieres this year.
The shows both tie in to the museum’s upcoming feature exhibition, “Ecosystems at Risk: Threatened and Endangered in New Jersey.” (See story, page 1.)
Hamer, an astrophysicist by training, says his very first experience in astronomy was in a planetarium. “I did a senior year internship in a planetarium, and now I’m hosting a senior in high school doing an internship with me,” Hamer says. “Things have kind of come full circle.”
Hamer says that “We Are Guardians,” a story about deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and the impact it is having in global climate stability, is geared toward younger audiences. “Spark: The Universe in Us,” meanwhile, is perhaps more appropriate for older viewers.
“Spark,” narrated by Diego Luna, looks to connect the air we breathe and the carbon we are made of to exploding stars millions of light years away and billions of years in the past. This interconnectedness of all the elements in the universe and all life on earth is symbolic of the interconnectedness of the fragile ecosystems across the earth.
“I really want the shows here to tell people something new, something that they haven’t heard before,” Hamer says. “I really want the shows to instill a sense of wonder. I don’t want them to just be dry lists of information. It’s important to me that they’re visually stunning.”
Films like these may fill out the majority of the planetarium schedule, but they are not the only attractions. Since joining the NJSM two years ago, Hamer has instituted a free monthly lecture series called “Science Under the Stars,” that features area scientists and researchers.
“I think it’s really special to connect the public directly with scientists,” Hamer says. “I’ve started to have a really dedicated audience of people who come every month.”
In the March lecture, Philippe Yao, a graduate research fellow in astrophysics at Princeton University, discussed black holes and their surrounding environments. April’s lecture, “From Beginning to End: The Story of Our Universe,” scheduled for 4:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, is set to feature Dr. Cyril Creque-Sarbinowski from the Center for Computational Astrophysics.
Creque-Sarbinowski will present on what we know about the origins of the universe — and what it might be like in the distant future. To attend, register online at nj.gov/state/museum/events-calendar.shtml.
The planetarium is also available to be reserved for private viewings on weekend mornings. Those reserving private viewings can invite up to 40 people for a fee, and choose a show from the planetarium’s catalog, presented by planetarium staff. For more information email njsm.reservations@sos.nj.gov.
