Planetaria

Youthful Germans will learn astronomy from planetaria installed in eleven cities. Craning their necks from seats in the very centre of these imitation universes, they will watch their professors speed up eternity, compel sun, moon and stars to step lively, giving their classes in a few minutes demonstrations of changes that take hundreds of centuries. The gyroscopic motion of the earth (26,000 years) will be reduced to four minutes. The earth's swing around the sun (one year) will be crowded into 7.3 seconds or slowed down to seven minutes to make it easier to see.

The Zeiss firm of Jena will sell these instruments only to cities, universities, museums, after guarantee that they will not be used for profit. Each a universe and a lecture room combined, these hun dred-foot domes reproduce the movements of all heavenly bodies, but are. available for ordinary class purposes when not wanted for astronomical demonstration.

From his desk under the dome, with his class gathered around him, the professor will control the universe, while lecturing.

The morning star will obey orders.

Eclipses will be made to perform before the five minute bell.

There will be one limitation only. The lecturer will have no pointer long enough to reach the outermost stars at the top of the planetarium. He will use a beam of light instead.