How Much Does A Portable Planetarium & Dome Cost?

I like trivia. Growing up I actually read books full of trivia, just for fun. I guess it was the combination of a short attention span and a dream of someday getting on Jeopardy. Needless to say, that never happened.

But it's this fascination for minutiae that compels me to read things like the legal notices which appear in the classified section of the Southeast Missourian. Their purpose is to inform The Public that someone's estate is being settled or that someone's house is being foreclosed on or that a public institution is inviting businesses to bid on some big-ticket purchase they are wanting to make.

It was one of these latter legal notices -- an invitation to bid -- that caught my eye last week.

The University was soliciting bids for a portable planetarium and dome.

That struck me as a pair of very unusual items. They're the type of things that you probably can't just walk in to Wal-Mart and buy.

Well, actually Toys-R-Us does sell the first item. They carry the Space Theater Planetarium from Slinky Science for $29.99. Their website says it will display "the finest star and constellation projections you'll see outside of a million-dollar museum planetarium."

I can believe that claim. This product comes from the same firm that sells the Slinky, unquestionably the greatest stair toy ever made.

I did think it odd that the University was requesting bids on a projector they can get for $30.

But then I looked into portable domes, and they are another matter. You can't buy those at Toys-R-Us. Domes designed to be used with portable planetariums range from six to twelve thousand dollars depending on the size.

Ouch!

So, at face value, we're talking about $12,029.99 for this little educational purchase if we went with the biggest dome available and the projector from Toys-R-Us. That explains why the University was requesting bids.

However, at that point, I hadn't read the detailed bid description. You had to go to the University's website for that information.

So, I looked it up and I found some good news right away. The University was not requiring the biggest dome, just one that could accommodate about 25 adults. It costs only $7,950.

That meant that if the University went with the fine-quality planetarium from the makers of Slinky, they're only looking at spending just a smidge under eight grand plus shipping.

Or at least that's what I thought until I looked closely at the bid specs. Detailed bid specs can be very detailed.

In this case, the University specified that the projector must have "175 degree projection angle" and a "minimum resolution of 1050 pixels across a diameter" and come with a "1000 GB supplemental hard drive" and have a "minimum projector brightness of 6500 lumens" and "include lesson plans for use with elementary through high school students" and come with a "wheeled transit case."

They also said it had to be a "Digitarium Gamma Portable model or equal."

That's a lot of pretty darn specific detail. And that's only part of it.

Basically, it's the same as going to an auto dealer and telling them that you're looking for any vehicle as long as it's a 2009 Ford F150 Extended Cab in red with the chrome package.

You say you are open to options when really you're not.

The description of the Space Theater Planetarium from the makers of Slinky at ToyRUs.com is nowhere near as detailed as the bid information from the University. Toys-R-Us focuses on important stuff like the fact that if I were to buy a Space Theater Planetarium from Slinky Science for $29.99 that my "ceiling will sparkle with a dazzling array of stars." Cool!

They don't even mention lumens and hard drives and resolutions. That's all tech talk and probably not all that important.

After studying those very specific bid requirements from the University and doing some research on the educational-oriented portable planetariums available, I came to the conclusion that there is only one vendor who offers a single model that meets all of the University's requirements.

It's the Digitarium Gamma Portable. Go figure!

Digitalis Educational Solutions sells it for $43,230.

I would say that the price difference between it and the $29.99 Space Theater Planetarium from Slinky Science is anything but trivial.

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