The Kika Silva Pla Planetarium is a 34-foot in diameter, domed theater that seats 60 people. The planetarium uses two projection systems. A SciDome digital projection system produced by Spitz Inc. and an optical-mechanical Chronos Space Simulator manufactured by Goto.

History

The planetarium opened to the public in September 2007 and is located on the Northwest Campus of Santa Fe College. The Kika Silva Pla Planetarium was made possible by a donation of John Pla and his wife Amy Howard, on behalf of the Pla family, in recognition of his mother, Kika Silva Pla's, commitment to education and passion for social justice and civic engagement. The planetarium was funded with additional support from a special federal appropriation arranged by Congressman Cliff Stearns.

Laurent Pellerin was the planetarium's first coordinator. James Albury became the planetarium coordinator in October 2009, and is a co-host on the internationally syndicated PBS show "Star Gazer

Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer

Star Gazers is a five-minute astronomy show on public television previously hosted by Jack Foley Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium...

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