Stars projected onto the dome of the planetarium at Bates College are a blur in this 30-second time exposure during a recent show. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

LEWISTON — Leo Crossman had no idea Bates College had a planetarium.

Nicole Hastings, director of the Bates College planetarium, stands in front of the Star Ball and holds the low-light pointer used to direct viewers’ attention to areas of the night sky in her presentation. Sun Journal Photo by Andree Kehn

He’d researched the campus and toured it before applying, but it wasn’t until he took an astronomy class freshman year that he discovered there was a domed room on the first floor of Carnegie Science Hall where he could learn about the universe.

It sort of slipped by him.

The Ladd Planetarium slips by a lot of people.

“Every person I meet who learns about the planetarium always wants to know more about it and go visit it,” said Crossman, a mathematics major now in his junior year.

Its mere existence is unusual. Colleges Bates’ size don’t usually have a planetarium. And statewide, Maine has few planetariums at all.

But for well over 50 years, the little planetarium has quietly endured, serving as a celestial classroom not only for Bates students but for schoolchildren and community members. The projector is original, from around 1962 or 1963. The control panels look like something out of 1960s NASA, with an array of dials and switches — none of which uses computer chips, but some of which use mercury to create a circuit.

The Star Ball sits in the middle of the Bates College planetarium. Sun Journal Photo by Andree Kehn

“Every time I turn it on, it’s a miracle it comes on,” said Nicole Hastings, a Bates assistant in instruction and the director of the Ladd Planetarium. “But I am so thankful to have it.”

‘I HAD NO CLUE’

The Carnegie science building was built in 1913 thanks to a $50,000 Andrew Carnegie gift matched by Bates. In 1962, the building was renovated (at a much higher $677,000 price tag ) to add a wing and, among other things, to create a planetarium on the top floor.

It was the space-race era and planetariums were all the rage.

A telescope, made by Kennebunk resident Roscoe Stephens and given to Bates at some point earlier, was relocated to the planetarium. A projector and control panel were installed. A second control panel — heavy, wooden and the approximate size of a short linebacker — was hand-built by a professor.

The planetarium was named after the Ladd family, donors to the planetarium.

The Bates College planetarium’s Star Ball was built in the 1960s and is used to recreate the movement of the stars in the night sky. Sun Journal Photo by Andree Kehn

In 1990, a three-story addition ($11.1 million) doubled the size of the science building and added a cold room for the biology department, a greenhouse and laser labs. While the telescope was installed in an observatory on the roof, the planetarium, its concave ceiling and equipment — then nearly 30 years old— were moved from the top floor down to the first, in a tucked-away room off the lobby, where they remain today.

There is room only for about two dozen people. Seats don’t tilt, so audiences have to crane their necks to see the full show. The projector uses gears, light bulbs and tiny holes — like the $15 star projectors popular today for kids’ bedrooms — rather than the digital projection systems used by most modern planetariums.

But Ladd users — those who know about the place — don’t seem to mind the basic accommodations.

The cozy space has played host to thousands of kids and adults over the years. Scouts and school groups take field trips to the planetarium. A popular Lewiston Adult Ed class uses it to learn about the stars and planets. Community organizations go for educational shows.

“It’s a lot of fun. I like getting to meet all the people in the local community and teach them about stuff that I love,” said Hastings, who has been fascinated by astronomy since she was 3 years old.

Among Bates classes, Introduction to Astronomy students use the planetarium most and are probably the students most likely to fall in love with the place. Last year, Crossman spent his weekends running open planetarium shows with his roommate.

Erin Haynes of Poland snuggles with her daughter Nora as she looks up at the dome of the planetarium at Bates College before the start of a recent presentation as her other daughter Isla looks at a photograph of the stars. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

“If I had not taken an astronomy class, I would never have learned of its existence,” he said.

Every spring, astronomy students put on an Astronomy Extravaganza, a two-hour evening event filled with astronomy projects, demonstrations and educational planetarium shows geared toward children and families. On Wednesday, hundreds of people showed up for this year’s extravaganza.

For at least the first hour, about 100 people filled the lobby outside the planetarium, crowded shoulder to shoulder as they waited for their turn to see a show. Inside the planetarium, it was standing room only.

“I’ve never even known about it. I didn’t know it was open to the public. I didn’t know they did shows. And, see, my husband works here. I had no clue,” said Crystal Nicholas, whose husband works at the Bates Museum of Art and who happened to snag coveted spots with her two children at the planetarium’s first show of the night.

AN UNCLEAR FUTURE

Slowly, more people are learning about the place.

Raheem Spence, a sophomore at Bates College, waits for the lights to be turned down in the planetarium at the Lewiston-based college during last Wednesday’s Astronomy Extravaganza. The dials in the foreground control the motion of the stars that are projected onto the planetarium dome. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

“I think the word is getting out,” Hastings said. “We don’t really advertise the space enough because we don’t have personnel dedicated to the space — it’s basically just me on a volunteer basis — so we haven’t really pushed. But at the same time, we don’t mind people spreading (the news by) word of mouth.”

But while the planetarium is beloved by those who know about it, that love can’t hold together a 56-year-old projector. The technology is so old that Bates can no longer get replacement parts. If — when — something breaks, the projector may stay broken.

“It is on its last legs,” Hastings said.

A couple of years ago, the college applied for a large NASA grant to allow small planetariums to update their systems and create new educational programs, but NASA canceled the grant due to lack of funding a month before the proposal deadline. The federal government didn’t want to support it.

Other grants — of that size and geared toward small planetariums — are rare.

“Until another grant comes up, we’re kind of foundering,” Hastings said.

The operating system for the planetarium equipment at Bates College features large dials and glow-in-the-dark tape to make the controls easier to use in the dark. Sun Journal Photo by Andree Kehn

A new digital projector and computer system, which modern planetariums tend to use these days, would cost about $250,000. Computer upgrades cost about $10,000 every 10 years.

With a new digital system, the planetarium could expand its educational slate, going from straight stars-and-planets shows to fully programmable science education programs, animation and art classes and dance installations.

“I would love for that to happen,” said Andorthy Kelly, a Bates sophomore who is so passionate about astronomy that she got a summer job teaching national parks visitors about the stars. “I mean, there’s something kind of nice about seeing old equipment and knowing that it has history, but I also think we’ve progressed far enough with newer equipment that it will function better.”

Bates is building a new 65,000-square-foot science building — the centerpiece of a $300 million Bates Campaign to boost the college’s science, technology, engineering and math programs — but any Bates plans for upgrading the planetarium equipment remain unclear.

The scene from below the projector in the Bates College planetarium. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

“Investing in Bates’ science facilities is a significant goal of our current capital campaign,” Bates spokeswoman Marjorie Hall said in a written statement. “Later this spring, Bates will break ground on a new science facility on Campus Avenue. In addition to the new building, we will be enhancing existing spaces in the Carnegie Science and Dana Chemistry buildings. Our entire community benefits from the nationally recognized research in science and mathematics taking place on campus and we look forward to continuing public events and educational offerings that encourage engagement with the sciences.”

Hastings has spoken with college officials about the possibility of future fundraising to pay for upgrades, but said, “Right now there aren’t any solidified plans.”

So for now, the planetarium continues as it has for decades, quietly, but well loved.

James Carr, 10, saw the place for the first time during the extravaganza on Wednesday. An astronomy fan, he’d been to a planetarium in Boston, but he didn’t know there was one so close to his home in Lisbon.

“It’s kind of cool,” he said.

ltice@sunjournal.com