#planetariums — Public Fediverse posts

#AI #SanFrancisco #planetariums

"Cal Academy Utilizes A.I. after Laying Off 50 Employees

The California Academy of Sciences announced layoffs of 53 employees in late April as part of an effort to close a projected budget deficit exceeding $8 million. Some workers have continued to work, but on June 30, the layoffs will fully take effect, eliminating the 173-year-old San Francisco institution’s ability to produce its own planetarium shows or create graphics for its public floor.

'While eliminating some staff positions is painful, it is clear that these actions are necessary to reduce our expenses and eliminate our deficit,' said former Executive Director Scott Sampson in a statement prior to his resignation.

The layoffs will also mean no more original exhibits being created, fewer animals to view, fewer in-person programs and a more difficult visitor experience on the busiest days, according to Teddy Vollman, president of Cal Academy Workers United. Workers have raised alarms that artificial intelligence and outside contractors may fill some of those gaps.

Matthew Blackwell, a digital artist in the visualization studio who has worked at the museum for 17 years, described what losing his team will mean for the planetarium’s future programming.

'The viz studio as it currently exists will not exist anymore,' Blackwell said. 'If you want to rent content, there’s a lot that’s not good. And then, on top of that, a lot of it is specifically astronomy focused – one thing we’ve always been proud of here is making shows that are partially or entirely about not just astronomy, but terrestrial things: ecology, earthquakes, different aspects of life on this planet.'

Blackwell said the museum plans to keep screening the shows the studio has already made, but those will eventually become dated. Blackwell pointed to a recent outside-produced show, Tiny Chef, as a preview of what the planetarium experience could look like going forward.

'As far as scientific content, as far as actual in-depth learning points, I think there’s not a lot there,' Blackwell said. 'I’ve heard of people walking out of it. It felt like a little bit of a slap in the face. A very different direction, mostly without consulting us.'

Blackwell said there will be no one to advise outside producers on how to make content work in the museum’s planetarium. The technical knowledge is needed to identify what content might cause nausea and to convert material to fit.

The creative studio faces a similar erasure. T.R. Malcom oversees the in-house branding and design team’s projects and is being laid off. Malcom said the team is also losing its two in-house photographers and two commercial designers.

'There will not be any graphic designers who work on the primary design for education materials and things on the public floor,' Malcom said.

Malcom said some of that work has already been shifted to an outside creative agency, but expressed doubt that contractors could replicate what comes from a team steeped in institutional knowledge. Both Malcom and Vollman said they fear the museum is looking to A.I. to replace some of what departing workers do.

'Internally, we are actively being encouraged to use A.l. by our superiors,' Malcom said. 'The outside contractors we have on the public floor like Showtime Productions, the photography booth, almost exclusively try to use A.l. on new photobooth backgrounds.'

Malcom also knows of A.I.-generated imagery currently present in exhibits and on merchandise, but refused to disclose specifics on the record.

'There is this interest in A.I. – not only just contracting out work, but also in A.I. to replace these roles,' Malcom said. 'I am worried that once we are gone, there will be A.I.-generated ads. And that would just absolutely break my heart – A.I. doing what incredible, talented people currently still work doing, and want to do.'"

https://richmondsunsetnews.com/2026/06/03/cal-academy-utilizes-a-i-after-laying-off-50-employees/

On 📆 June 23 the @VRubinObs #observatory will unveil a first look at ultrahigh-definition images and videos of the cosmos taken 🔭 from a mountaintop in #Chile. And you can participate by joining a public livestream (in English and Spanish) or one of the in-person watch parties at #planetariums, #universities and #museums 🏛️ around the globe. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-vera-c-rubin-observatorys-first-images-live-with-these-watch-parties/

Ein Bericht über die dreistündige Bochumer Feier des 100. 'Geburtstags' des modernen #Planetariums am Mittwoch: https://www.bochum-journal.de/2025/05/08/ein-jahrhundert-unter-sternen/. Der darin erwähnte internationale Livestream in Aufzeichnung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbaaGFQhWTU. Ein weiterer sehenswerter Livestream auf Deutsch, der parallel lief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVIBdyWrnNc. Und noch mehr Videos und Links rund um das Jubiläum: https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/100-jahre-planetarien-das-auch-online-finale/

2024 war nicht nur das Jahr des 60. Geburtstags des Bochumer #Planetariums, es jährte sich auch die Erfindung des Projektionsplanetariums zum 100. Mal! So gibt es gleich doppelten Anlass, die außergewöhnliche und spannende Geschichte des Bochumer Sterntheaters zu erzählen und dabei auch die Entwicklung des bis heute äußerst populären Planetariums selbst in einem größeren Kultur- und ideengeschichtlichen Kontext zu betrachten - am Mittwoch in einem Vortrag im Stadtarchiv: https://www.bochum.de/Pressemeldungen/5-Februar-2025/Stadtarchiv-Vortrag--60-Jahre-Planetarium-Bochum---100-Jahre-Projektionsplanetarium-

Na so eine Überraschung! Mit diesem Artikel - 4/5 der ersten Seite der Wochenend-Beilage der heutigen #WAZ - hatte auch die Leitung des #Bochumer #Planetariums überhaupt nicht gerechnet: auch auf https://www.waz.de/kultur/article408179140/besucherrekord-im-planetarium-darum-faszinieren-uns-die-sterne.html im Volltext und ohne Bezahlschranke.

e495 — Personal Planetarium

e495 with Michael and Michael on personal #planetariums, digital #doppelgängers, #agentic #AI acceleration, and a whole lot more!

https://gamesatwork.biz/2024/12/30/e495-personal-planetarium/

e495 — Personal Planetarium

e495 with Michael and Michael on personal #planetariums, digital #doppelgängers, #agentic #AI acceleration, and a whole lot more!

https://gamesatwork.biz/2024/12/30/e495-personal-planetarium/

e495 with Michael and Michael on personal #planetariums, digital #doppelgängers, #agentic #AI acceleration, and a whole lot more! https://gamesatwork.biz/2024/12/30/e495-personal-planetarium/

A Brief History of the World’s First Planetarium. By Allison Marsh - IEEE Spectrum
https://spectrum.ieee.org/planetarium-history

#Astronomy #Planetariums

Planetário do Porto in Porto, Portugal

A scientific observatory managed the largest Portuguese astronomy research unit.#planetariums #space #astronomy #section-Atlas
Planetário do Porto

Archenhold Observatory in Berlin, Germany

This public observatory is home to the "celestial cannon," the longest refracting telescope in the world.#planetariums #astronomy #science #observatories #section-Atlas
Archenhold Observatory

Delta College Planetarium in Bay City, Michigan

This state-of-the-art planetarium takes architectural inspiration from the sun itself.
Delta College Planetarium

This spring, a stunning new documentary film featuring recent discoveries from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (#DESI) will be released to #planetariums worldwide. The 22-minute planetarium film "5000 Eyes: Mapping the Universe with DESI" provides a rare glimpse into modern #cosmology by featuring original footage of the telescope and interviews with DESI scientists - and it will be freely available for download and showing to public audiences in early March: https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2023/02/27/new-desi-planetarium-show-to-premier-in-2023/