The L.E. Phillips Planetarium hosts public shows for students and community members in the Phillips Hall, inside the James Newman Clark Bird Museum. At 7 p.m. every Thursday, these shows cost $5 to attend. However, for $75, a visitor could book a private show. 

Bill Wolf, the director since the fall of 2020, said these shows are visited not just by UW-Eau Claire students, but also members of the community and elementary school students. 

“People always think it’s great for little kids, and it can be fun for kids, but kids can’t sit in a dark room for an hour,” Wolf said. 

According to the Worldwide Planetariums Database, the planetarium opened in 1965. This means the planetarium will have its 60th anniversary this year, but Wolf said there are no plans for a celebration. 

He said when the new planetarium in the upcoming Science and Health Sciences building is ready to open, he hopes to hold a final show in the Phillips planetarium before walking guests over to the new location for its first show, but this plan is not definitive. 

“Maybe we could show the same show in one and the other and see what the new advanced capabilities are,” Wolf said. 

He said that while the new projector technology will give them more “flexibility” in what they can do and the ability to “tailor” their shows, they will lose the darkness that the old technology provided. 

Wolf said at his last job he used to work in a classroom with a planetarium attached to it. 

“I’d already had some experience with a more modern planetarium and really liked it,” Wolf said, “Then I went down to this one and went, ‘Oh wow, batteries are not included. There’s a lot more work to do. This is relying on the presenter.’” 

Wolf currently runs these shows with one student volunteer, first-year astrophysics student, Grace Mullikin. 

Last semester, he worked with first-year earth and space science education student Ella Bartkowiak in the planetarium. 

“The technology can be difficult at times. I found more difficulty in memorizing all the information,” Bartkowiak said. 

Wolf said he hopes the new location’s technology will make it easier for volunteers to be trained on and use. 

However, Wolf said one more thing that will differentiate the locations is that the new location will have a tilted dome, which will prevent visitors from having to crane their necks. 

Wolf also said the Phillips planetarium offers a hearing assistance system for those who need it but little else for other disabilities, such as the lack of a dedicated handicapped spot. He said he looks forward to having more accessibility in the new location. 

Wolf said the current location has also had a few issues with things breaking in the planetarium. While they do have a maintenance contract with Ash Enterprises, he’s not too concerned about these things with the new location on its way. 

“If we were gonna be here for another ten years, I’d probably work to fix it, but at this point, if a slide projector breaks down, we’ll just not use that one,” Wolf said. 

He said that none of these breakages affect the show and that operations are continuing as normal. 

Additionally, Wolf said that they will go through Evans and Sutherland for work on the new planetarium instead of Ash Enterprises. 

The new planetarium will be in the upcoming Science and Health Sciences building, which should open in 2027.

“A common misconception is that learning can be boring, but a planetarium experience is far from that,” Mullikin said.

Curtin can be reached at [email protected].