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Auckland's Stardome Observatory has been thrown a financial lifeline to ensure that far-flung galaxies remain within its grasp.
Funding grants from charitable trusts and a loan of $865,000 from Auckland City have enabled it to raise $2.4 million for a digital brain transplant for its ageing planetarium, which is becoming obsolete.
There were fears that the planetarium, which caters for 98 per cent of the One Tree Hill observatory's 60,000 annual visitors, would fall into disuse as replacement parts became harder to find for its 10-year-old analogue star projector and other imaging machines needed to teleport spectators to far reaches of the universe.
The equipment was in danger of being eclipsed by home-theatre systems and rocketing maintenance costs, such as $800 to replace a bulb which blew up in the middle of a show in January.
But now, with grants from the ASB Community Trust and the Lion Foundation as well as the city council loan, the observatory has appointed a project team to select a digital system for the planetarium by early next year.
Chief executive Craig Garner said it would be New Zealand's first planetarium to go fully digital and would immerse audiences in simulated environments emulating journeys through space.
"It's a big thing for us," he said yesterday. "It will give people literally a 3D version of the known universe, a real-time representation of what is a living, breathing organism. The immersive experience is like no other, delivering a truly striking and memorable voyage into space."
