New English School Planetarium to reopen after Rs 2-L repair on projector
New English School Planetarium to reopen after Rs 2-L repair on projectorTheu00a0New English School Planetarium can not bless its lucky stars enough.u00a0Thanks to the efforts of noted astronomer Parag Mahajani, also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, UK, the planetarium could get its dysfunctional projector repaired and thus save a whopping Rs 48 lakh.
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Back in action: The school planetariumu00a0 displays the projector that was
repaired after seven yearsThe expert team, also comprising GS Kulkarni, professor of physics, SP College, Vinayak Ramdasi, mathematics teacher at the school, and its headmaster S B Mundhe, said the Spitz projector would function without any glitches for another two decades.u00a0
Earlier, the planetarium was shut down for almost seven years, as its Spitz projector developed a technical snag. "We had no hopes that the machine could be easily repaired and that too in Rs 2 lakh," said Dilip Kotibhaskar, the school committee president. "In fact, we were planning to buy the new model of the projector costing Rs 50 lakh," he said.
It was Mahajani who saved the school the pecuniary depletion by taking up the challenge of repairing the machine.u00a0 "I visited many places, including the Juna Bazaar, to see if spare parts can be got," Mahajani said.
Mahajani said the 1950s model of Spitz was kept only in museums at Melbourne, Australia, and Texas, US. "I had to change the transformer, mercury switches, projector motor, electrical bulbs, wires and small screws.
The entire replacement and repairing cost was about Rs 2 lakh," said Mahajani. "This was a cheap deal compared to the Rs 50 lakh the school would have had to pay for a new model. We have also made extra spare parts, in case there is a snag again."
The first show of the repaired model was made on October 18, 2010, when noted computer scientist Dr Vijay Bhatkar was present. Praising the repair team, he said: "The old model can be useful for school students to study the sky." The planetarium will start operations today.
