The Charleston Planetarium is set to open at the Citadel Mall
by Jenny Peterson | News Editor
The sky’s the limit for Charleston’s first planetarium, slated to open in late February/early March in a tenant space at the Citadel Mall.
Programming will span the farthest reaches of the galaxy projected onto a 23-foot-wide state-of-the-art inflatable dome with room for 50 seats underneath its orbit.
The vast library of shows for the Charleston Planetarium will be provided by Digitalis Education Solutions, which provides planetarium programming and for more than 700 portable domes worldwide. The updated timeline is for a soft opening in mid-February with a grand opening in March.
“When people think of planetariums, obviously they think of space shows and astronomy—and we will be doing primarily those—but we can also do shows on marine biology, like a show on great white sharks, or history shows and other genres,” said Paul Gangarosa, founder and president of the Charleston Planetarium. “There are around 80 shows that are included with the Digitalis Education package and there are a lot of shows available for rent or purchase within the planetarium community and we’ll even have the capability to create our own shows.”
Each ticketed show ($15 for adults, and $10 for kids ages 6-13, according to the planetarium website) will include an hour of projected programming, with a scripted introduction about the topic that can include a focus on the moon, stars, planets, black holes, galaxies and beyond. There will be opportunities for private rentals for birthday parties, scientific lectures, corporate retreats and school field trips.
While the announcement for the Charleston Planetarium came out with a bang in early January, Gangarosa said it’s been in the works for more than two years. His career has focused on public health, yet he said it was always his dream to open a planetarium to increase the public’s interest in astronomy.
“I’ve lived in Charleston for about 20 years. As a kid, I always enjoyed going on field trips to planetariums and I felt like it was something Charleston needed. The city really doesn’t have a lot to offer in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) so I thought this would make a nice complement,” Gangarosa said. “Plus, NASA is planning the Artemis program to go back to the moon, so the timing is good to help get people more interested in space.”
The Charleston Planetarium is overseen by the newly-formed nonprofit Charleston Planetarium Society, with expert board members in the business and science fields, including R. Scott Harris, a Planetary Geologist, and Dr. Chris Fragile, a professor at The College of Charleston in the Department of Physics & Astronomy.
An added value will be that the nonprofit plans to set up a telescope in the parking lot of the Citadel Mall when space-related events occur to further deepen the public’s interest in planets and the wonders of the cosmos.
“We can rope off some of the mall parking lot and have people come by for free and look through the telescopes,” Gangarosa said.
The ability to bring in an inflatable dome to the mall space was the impetus in making the planetarium a possibility, Gangarosa said
“It really was the breakthrough because an inflatable dome is still very large, but so much less expensive. That’s what really pushed this forward,” he said.
In addition to selling tickets for shows, visitors will be able to purchase snacks from a vending machine and there will be a gift shop with unique space-related items.
The non-profit is partnering with corporate sponsors, exploring grant opportunities and consulting with experts in planetarium operations to create ongoing, top-notch programming. Gangarosa said the dream is to have a standalone planetarium several years down the line with a fixed hemispheric steel dome.
“We’re going to see how well it takes off and how people like it,” Gangarosa said. “There is a very large and thriving international planetarium community that we will be tapping into. The sky’s the limit and the stars have aligned to bring it to Charleston.”
Sign up for the Charleston Planetarium newsletter to learn about opening dates, programming and other opportunities to support the effort at www.charlestonplanetarium.org.
