Located in the heart of downtown Bay City, the Delta College Planetarium has delighted more than 430,000 visitors since opening in 1997.
Nowhere else in the Great Lakes Bay Region will you find such a unique, modern facility with a focus on learning. We are one of three regional Delta College centers outside our main campus. Approximately 700 Delta College students take college classes at this center each year.
The $8.75 million facility, funded by NASA, houses a state-of-the-art Planetarium Digital 360 theater, seven classrooms, a large multipurpose two story room called "The Space Explorer’s Hall," a computer lab, rooftop observation deck, gift shop, office/learning support area and a magnificent lobby with a floor that displays the major star constellations. The Planetarium Digital Theater has a Digistar full dome video projection system housed under a tilted 50 foot domed screen with 140 unidirectional seats. The entire building is architecturally designed as a metaphor of astronomy and space exploration.
Exhibits
A special display showcases the jumpsuit for Michigan astronaut Jack Lousma. A native
of Grand Rapids, Jack flew in America’s first space station called Skylab in 1973
and in the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1982. Lousma is one of 12 Michigan native astronauts.
An authentic thermal protection tile used for the Space Shuttle is also a part of
the display.
The Community Solar System Project was conceived by Bay County area student Jacob Larsen. It has posted displays of
the Sun and major planets between the Delta College Planetarium in Bay City and the
Dow Memorial Library in Midland. The outdoor display panels are placed to demonstrate
the distances between the planets if the Sun-to-Pluto distance were collapsed to the
19 mile separation between the two buildings.
This display area changes to show some of the latest work at NASA, from spacecraft
exploration to current events to the International Space Station. Students and parents
can explore more at NASA's Space Place.
The National Solar System Project marks how the planets would be separated if the Sun were located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Pluto were located at the Delta College Planetarium. On this scale, the Sun-Pluto separation of 3.67 billion miles is scaled into the 1200 miles separating the two points. Each planet is strategically placed at a planetarium along the path.
ViewSpace is a self-updating multimedia astronomy display that uses internet-fed content from
the Space Telescope Science Institute. It provides a variety of visual programs that
are dynamic, stimulating and informative. The short features combine art, science
and music. ViewSpace is an astronomy exhibit that never goes out of date, and one that brings the advantages
of NASA’s investment in science and exploration to the public.