We need to celebrate astronomy and planetariums more often

摘要

As we continue into the look back at the "2009 International Year Of Astronomy" (and it doesn't look like we're doing another one anytime soon), I kind of wonder what was the need for it in the first place. The general consensus some 10 years ago was to get people out and look up at the real sky by attending star parties and the like. The heck with that, I want people to come to my planetarium shows, or worst case scenario, come to a combo of planetarium show and then live viewing. As we look forward to the 100th year of the planetarium, we might just get the horse properly before the cart and place the dome room first in the minds of the general public.