Replacing the

Planetarium
Projector
An Honors Project by:
Natalie Droeske, Austin Kuchenbecker, Audrey Miller, Celia DaSilva &
Jacob Till

Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Kristen Thompson
The Heitkamp Planetarium’s History

During the 125th anniversary of the

college, the planetarium was
dedicated was dedicated to Professor
G. William “Bill” Heitkamp, who taught
physics at Loras for 50 years.
The Heitkamp Memorial Planetarium
was opened on May 1, 1964.
The project totaled $82,165.81
The Heitkamp Planetarium’s History

The planetarium currently features:

❖ A state-of-the-art Goto model
Venus projector, which projected:
➢ 2,800 Stars
➢ Sun
➢ Moon
➢ Visible planets
❖ A 33-foot dome
❖ Seating to accommodate 90
Why was this an Honors Project?

❖ The Southern hemisphere no

longer operates
❖ The planets no longer function
❖ The moon no longer functions
❖ Distinct black spots in the
northern hemisphere where
lights have burned out
❖ We needed a new
projector...but projectors are
expensive
 Our Journey to the Emerald Projector

Digitarium
Zeiss Kappa Fixed
Starmaster: for $66,000:
Too Expensive Runner-Up,
($500,000) offer wasn’t
good enough
Digitarium
Epsilon Fixed
for $34,000:
Discontinued
Model
Finally...Emerald
Gold-PLUS Fixed
Projector for $69,200
An Increase from $34,000 to $69,200??

❖ With such a drastic price tag increase, we re-doubled our

fundraising and grant-writing efforts
❖ Grants we received
➢ Dubuque Racing Association ($16,918)
➢ McDonough Foundation ($20,000)
➢ Wahlert Foundation ($3,000)
❖ Sponsorships, Matches, and Private gifts (thus far): $32,600
Did we make our goal?

❖ So far, we have raised $72,518

❖ However, the total price tag of the projector (including software,
installation fees, warranty, control station, custom optics,
shipping, and spare parts) was naturally higher than the
projector cost of $69,200
❖ New Total Price: $80,170
❖ So if we’re $7,652 shy, can we still get it?
 Answer: We already did!

❖ The Emerald-GOLD-PLUS-FIXED
Projector is on its way and will arrive in
January!
❖ Decommissioning of the current
projector will begin in December
❖ How will we make up the difference in
cost?
➢ Continued fundraising
➢ Possible Student Union funding
➢ More t-shirt sales
(Do you have your Heitkamp Planetarium t-shirt yet??)
 Acknowledgements
A HUGE Thank You to….
● Dr. Erin VanLaningham
● Dr. Kristen Thompson
● Dr. Kenneth McLaughlin & the
planetarium staff
● Loras College Alumni Network
● Generous Student Donors
● Valorie Woerdehoff, Gretchen
Fischer, & Cayla Schneider
● John Sutter, Tom Jensen, & 101.1
The River
● McDonough Foundation
● Wahlert Foundation
● Dubuque Racing Association
● Thrivent Financial
● GreaterSkies, Ltd.
● Farm Bureau Financial
Services
● Loras College Honors Program