The Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado at Boulder will be closed until further notice due to a water main break early the morning of May 1.
Closure is expected to last several weeks. All events, public and private, have been cancelled, including public school shows, university events, laser shows and prerecorded planetarium shows. The closure will not affect the May 15 lunar eclipse viewing, which takes place outside the planetarium.
However, the Graduate School's commencement reception for doctoral students, scheduled for May 9 at 10:30 a.m. in the planetarium, will be moved to another location. Further information will be made available as soon as it is known.
The planetarium's Zeiss projector and other specialized electronics and computers in the theater have not been damaged. Extensive damage occurred to carpet throughout the planetarium and to the mechanical room, where the water line enters the building. The mechanical room also houses the heating and cooling system for the planetarium.
The total cost of the flooding will not be known until the full extent of the damage is determined, but costs are certain to run into many thousands of dollars, according to Bob Stoller, operations manager for the planetarium.