Sacramento State Planetarium — Attraction in Sacramento

As a casual fan of the cosmos, I have eagerly awaited a visit to the CSUS Planetarium. Having just attended a showing of "JWST: The First Six Months" I can now put my desire to rest. On the positive, the Astrology Professor/Host Speaker was certainly knowledgeable and personable, and did a good job of keeping even the children in the audience attentive. However, I am greatly disappointed in the overall Planetarium experience. The seats are similar to movie theater seats of decades ago. Comfortable enough for a 90 minute viewing on a typical screen, but zero recline for viewing almost exclusively above. Additionally, the photos displayed in this presentation involved numerous topics visible only on the viewing surface above AND BEHIND the majority of the attendees. These two issues could have been resolved in three ways from the outset:

1. install seats that recline,
2. add software that permits the rotation of the photos to be viewed in the 'front' of the theater, or
3. if cost reduction was the reason for the previous shortcuts, then rotating the dome screen forward 30° would have easily resolved both. Great concept but truly weak execution. I have to believe that a construction company with movie theater build credentials, but zero planetarium experience, was selected for this project. If you go, choose a seat in the center-rear of the theater. I will not be returning, even for the nominal $5...

The Mystery of the Christmas Star show is pure religious propaganda. It not only refers to "Jesus of Nazareth" throughout as an indisputably factual historical figure it inexplicably gives this figure's birth great significance in the universe. It straight up quotes the book of Matthew extensively. I brought my kid to learn about the universe, not some human religious figure. If they had have been quoting Dianetics I would have been just as offended. We complained and walked out a few minutes in. All sales are final, but it only cost $12 to find out we are not immune from being proselytized to even at a university planetarium. Before the show, I overheard the planetarium director telling someone how important his "faith" was to him. When the show started, I started getting real uncomfortable real quick. I don't want my child exposed to your religion as if it's significant and as if it's fact. This whole experience was frustrating and felt sleazy. I feel like my daughter needs professional deprogramming now. Beware of this planetarium director, he's recruiting people...

I don't know who thought it was a great idea to build a planetarium where the seats point straight forward and don't recline. It is impossible to comfortably see 70% of the screen without straining your neck backwards. The portion of the screen in the first photo is all that I could comfortably see. And when I did strain my neck back to see the whole thing it made it clear that I was missing a LOT.

Sat 3rd row from the front out of about 10 rows. I would not recommend it at all unless you show up early and get in one of the back 2-3 rows.

Honestly even then I'm not sure I would recommend it. The actual showing was fine but especially around the edges the resolution was visibly low and I saw compression artifacting in dark areas. Not sure if that's an issue with the file itself not being high bitrate enough or if it's a problem with the original recording.

If they either install reclining seats or use software to shift the image like 30-40% lower it would pretty significantly improve the viewing experience, but as is, it's not an experience I would recommend to...