The AstroStat Slog

Last month, Senator McCain (R-AZ) wildly dissed on Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, characterizing a funding request on its behalf as “planetariums and other foolishness.” During the second Presidential debate, he continued on the same theme:

… including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?

Then, during the third debate last week, he doubled down:

MCCAIN: … including $3 million for an overhead projector in a planetarium in his hometown. That’s not the way we cut — we’ll cut out all the pork.

Okay, people say a lot of damfool things during Presidential campaigns. But as the saying goes, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

I am an astronomer, and an alumnus of UChicago (which pals around with the Adler), so I feel compelled to point out: the overhead projector that the Planetarium needs is not that one, but rather this one:

Also, it wasn’t funded:

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support тАУ which was not funded тАУ to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The AdlerтАЩs Zeiss Mark VI projector тАУ not an overhead projector тАУ is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The AdlerтАЩs projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the AdlerтАЩs 78 years of operation.

Why should we care about this glorified overhead projector? As the Adler press release says:

Science literacy is an urgent issue in the United States. To remain competitive and ensure national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

You betcha.

Update (11/2): natura facit saltus (v455, p1149, 30 Oct 2008)