Planetarium opens its doors

By Dan Hilborn
Published Feb. 11, 2004

When Bill Burnyeat was a teenager, his parents gave him a telescope for Christmas and his young eyes were filled with wonder.

As an adult, Burnyeat is helping to pass on that same sense of wonder and awe to a new generation of skywatchers in his role as caretaker and programmer of one of the best-kept scientific secrets in Burnaby.

Burnyeat is an astronomy instructor responsible for the planetarium hidden in the basement of SW3 building at the main BCIT campus. This year, he wants more people to see the fascinating piece of machinery that turns the small theatre into a moving model of the night sky.

"This is the oldest planetarium in British Columbia, and we're opening it up to the public again," said Burnyeat, who has also served as a community astronomer at the H.R. MacMillan Pacific Space Centre and Planetarium for almost 20 years.

"Anyone can take a pair of binoculars and go outside and see the Orion nebula. But you can also study the stars for a lifetime, and still not know everything there is to see," he said. "You can be enraptured by the stars. After all, these are the same stars that were seen by the Greek philosophers."

This year, Burnyeat is opening up the BCIT planetarium to visits by school groups, Scouts, Cubs, Guides, Brownies and other community organizations that are interested in learning about the night sky.

And, while the local planetarium is indeed smaller than the gigantic machine that fills the Space Centre in Vancouver, Burnyeat is convinced that the older technology in fact projects a clearer, more true image of the night sky on the white, dome-shaped roof of the 77-seat theatre.

"The quality of the image is better with this older, analog technology because when you use digital equipment, the stars have to be pixellated," said Burnyeat. "A file with the whole night sky on it is just too big."

And, like any true stargazer, Burnyeat has a wealth of knowledge about the night sky.

His favourite starry story is the Asian folk tale of Che Nu, who marries the Ox Herder but is forbidden to see him. In her despair, she spends the rest of her days weaving stars into sky. To western astronomers, Che Nu is known as Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky, her companion is Altair, and together they form two-thirds of the Summer Triangle. And the stars woven by Che Nu are in fact the Milky Way galaxy, which is where our solar system is located. In Korea, Japan and parts of Northern China, a festival of Che Nu is celebrated on July 7 each year.

To help keep its star shows entertaining, the BCIT planetarium has more than just stars in its repertoire. The BCIT planetarium can display the five visible planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - 3,000 individual stars, a satellite, outlines of the constellations, plus special features to replicate the rising sun and the northern lights.

Typically, the 1964 Spitz planetarium machine has only been seen by students registered in some of the more demanding technical programs at B.C.'s largest career training institution. Its greatest users have been students from the geomatics department studying how to survey, and the occasional class of Canadian military personnel who come to learn how to navigate without instruments.

Burnyeat has several varieties of star shows, which he tailors to his audience.

"With the really young kids, we emphasize the sun, moon and the earth," Burnyeat said, "and with the older ones we talk about the planets and constellations. And if the sky is clear, I take out the telescope and head outside, too."

And he admits that the most common questions he hears is whether there is any life in outer space. "Really there is no evidence," he said. "Anyone's opinion on that is as good as anyone else's.

"Most people seem to want to believe that there is life in space."

Burnyeat is also the publisher and writer of the popular British Columbia Sky Guide and he worked as a reporter at the Burnaby NOW newspaper during the early 1980s.

For more information about arranging a group visit to the BCIT planetarium, visit the website www.bcit.ca/planetarium/ or contact Burnyeat at 604-736-1174.