Talk:Planetarium

Notable planetaria
Folks - what do we think qualifies as a notable planetarium? We could do oldest in operation, largest etc. Otherwise this seems a bit subjective. There are over 1200 planetaria in the US alone so it would be good to have some criteria agreed ... Hugh Mason 09:24, 7 September 2005 (UTC)


 * In my opinion a notable planetarium would be one which focuses more on educating the masses in astronomy and related fields...something that posterity would surely remember 202.138.112.252 06:22, 20 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I guess many planetaria would claim education as their primary aim, so maybe your suggestion of 'something that posterity would remeber' is the most specific way to allow us to define a useful list. Would it be fair to say require that if a planetarium is added to this list it should say why it's notable (eg, biggest dome in the world, first digital installation, whatever?). We could move all the other excellent planetaria currently on the page to a new 'list of planetaria worldwide' page perhaps? Infilms 08:22, 17 May 2006 (UTC)


 * As a member of the planetarium community, I can say that the definition changes over time within the field, and specific criteria would be difficult to pinpoint. Taking the top five oldest, largest, and best attended would get you much of the way there, but innovation in programming and even particular staffing can elevate the status of a planetarium within the community. N.B. that a fairly complete list of planetariums exists both on the International Planetarium Society webpage (sadly, in the members&rsquo; only area) and on Loch Ness Productions&rsquo; website (albeit with a slight bias). Ryan Wyatt 13:26, 3 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Comments: The list of the world's planetariums is now open to the public (no longer just members). Also: the oldest, largest, whateverest also depends on the country. Sharon Shanks 4 June 2016 Slshanks42 (talk) 02:28, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

The plural should be "Planetaria"
That's what they're called in the Industry —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.239.199 (talk) 03:59, 5 July 2009 (UTC) The industry cannot dictate what it's called. It's not a specialized term. It's a common word. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.231.181.69 (talk) 08:25, 31 December 2015 (UTC)

I disagree - the plural should be Planetariums. This can get to be contentious. In Planetarian, style is planetariums. The exception are the groups who use "planetaria" in their names. Slshanks42 (talk) 02:31, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Google Sky ?
Can Google_Sky be mentioned as planetarium software ? 91.182.214.13 (talk) 08:11, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Early planetaria
I'm not sure what it means to say that the planetarium in Springfield, Mass. was the first "United States-built" planetarium. But the Adler Planetarium in Chicago opened in May 1930, 7 years before the one in Springfield (and was obviously built in the US and funded by and designed by two US citizens). Wecoffin (talk) 21:32, 3 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm trying to figure that Springfield claim out. It's sourced to a site that says, in a list of firsts, that Springfield's Seymour Planetarium is the first "American Built Planetarium" and says the Seymour was built in 1937. But calling Max Adler an American citizen isn't even enough since he was born in the United States. So an American-born citizen funded a planetarium that was built in America in 1930. I don't know if the term "United States-built" is a sneaky way of dodging what we know about the Adler, but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny so I'm deleting it.  City O f Silver  21:44, 3 December 2011 (UTC)


 * And yeah, Ernest Grunsfeld Jr., the Adler Planetarium's architect, was also born in the United States. So Adler, Grunsfeld, and the building all came into being on American soil. I'm getting rid of the whole paragraph.  City O f Silver  21:51, 3 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The Springfield is the first "United States-built" in that the star projector was built by hand by the Seymour brothers. The Adler's first projector was a Zeiss from Germany. It has nothing to do with Max Adler's citizenship.


 * The first projector at the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco also was constructed by hand.Slshanks42 (talk) 02:36, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Largest Planetarium?
Regarding this sentence in the opening, "Planetaria range in size from the Hayden Planetarium's 21-meter dome seating 423 people, to three-meter inflatable portable domes where children sit on the floor." Referred to in this way, it makes it sound like the Hayden Planetarium is the worlds largest, which it isn't.126.6.211.155 (talk) 02:36, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Planetarium projectors to a new page question in the text-response.
The problem with moving projectors to their own page is keeping it up to date. That's the same problem that the page itself is having. Just my opinion. - Sharon Slshanks42 (talk) 05:22, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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American English v. British English?
Since quite a few people already think planetariums is better (preferred over planetaria in AmE), and the article has a lot of AmE norms already, I think we should agree to use AmE for this article. Quaemenelimbus ( 🗨 here ) ^_^ 00:08, 28 October 2022 (UTC)


 * I do not mind whether the article uses American or British English, but I do not see that planetariums is American while planetaria is British. I personally prefer planetaria as the plural. TowardsTheLight (talk) 19:48, 24 February 2023 (UTC)