IN MY VIEW: This is not your grandpa’s planetarium

So it’s July and the kids are getting restless and the tree-house chatter turns to the so-called “theme parks” that are scattered across the country. I refer, of course, to such lofty temples of sanitized enjoyment (and equally sanitized teenage deployment) as Disneyland and Hogwarts College, etc. etc.

These theme parks are, in my view, often costly and misguided attempts to provide an entertainment that vaguely reminds the participants of the origin of the concepts but in a highly scrubbed and aseptic arena. Yes, water slides and the like are fun, but what do you have to offer for an encore?

Let me suggest you take a trip to your local planetarium. I say “local” since there are at least 20 large commercial planetariums in the United States, and there may be at least as many in the rest of the world. Some of the early planetariums (planetaria?) are mechanical marvels that are limited in display; others use the traditional dome and the familiar barbell-shaped projector made by the German optics experts at Carl Zeiss–Jena, in the former East Germany.

However, as you might expect, the contemporary displays are largely digital and offer graphic opportunities for displaying the cosmos that are expanding the form and function of the planetarium. The latest installations combine advanced electromechanical technology, complex video and slide projectors, impressive laser displays, computer graphics, and stereo and full-surround audio systems.

I’m not going to mention all the new planetarium systems, but I’ll give you my comments on a few that really impressed me. If you would like to do further research yourself, you can always do a Google on the planetarium of your choice. You will get more details than you asked for, but most of the web sites have a pretty good consumer orientation that makes them easy to navigate.

My comments are in no particular order. Boston’s outstanding Museum of Science houses the somewhat recently renovated Charles Hayden Planetarium, which has a couple of contrasting shows: the rather noisy “Cosmic Collisions” and “Undiscovered Worlds.” The latter show can be a visual assault if you have sensitive eyes.

The Hayden Planetarium also has a live Friday night show, “The Sky Tonight,” which has a long tradition among Boston’s budding cosmonauts. Warning: Although the museum and planetarium have a fine position on the Charles River, exhibits are often crowded during school vacations.

Of course, no list of planetariums could possibly omit the grandfather of them all, the “Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum” in Chicago. The Adler actually houses several planetariums, among which is the first commercial planetarium built in 1913 for the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Called the Atwood Sphere and so named after its designer, the Atwood Sphere seems quite primitive when compared with the museum’s recently installed twin planetariums: one a traditional Zeiss projector and the other a fully digital IMAX theater that has yet to be fully explored and exploited.

My third choice would be the UK’s National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory, Greenwich. This is the home of the Greenwich Meridian (GMT). It is also the home of London’s only planetarium. The Royal Observatory is hosting several events during the 2012 London Olympics and ParaOlympics that could result in limited access to the observatory and planetarium from July through September. Check the museum’s web site before you go. Google “Peter Harrison Planetarium” for details.

You don’t necessarily have to go to a planetarium to experience the effects of a ride through the galaxies. Indeed, all the major planetaria have put a kind of slide or movie show on YouTube. Just open up your iBook to see some startlingly good displays. I particularly enjoyed the section recorded at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium entitled “Deep Space Adventure.” Just search for “Deep Space” on your YouTube extension.

Happy galactic explorations!