Planetarium reopens with key upgrades at Palomar College

SAN MARCOS – The last time anyone watched a simulation of the night sky inside the Palomar College Planetarium was March 13, 2020, days before the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic arrived in North County.

Astronomy Professor Scott Kardel was in the "console" that night – the term for the control booth in the rear of the theater where the show is produced and narrated by a rotating staff of three Palomar scientists.

Fast forward nearly two years, in January 2022, and the same team was back on campus and preparing to reopen the Planetarium: "A lot of things didn't work when we turned them back on," K...