John Breunig (opinion): We have liftoff. CT planetarium opens to public
By John Breunig, Editorial Page Editor | Nov 15, 2025
Article & Photos by John Breunig/Hearst Connecticut Media
I’m mentally packing a time capsule with moments from Thursday night’s launch of Connecticut’s new astronomy center.
In my mind, the Stamford Museum & Nature Center would wait until 2075 to open this virtual capsule from the premiere of its Planetarium & Astronomy Center.
I opt for a 50-year timeframe while chatting with Director of Astronomy Charles Eder about his eight years hosting visitors at the Vanderbilt Planetarium and Observatory in Centerport, N.Y. He says 60-year-olds would routinely reminisce about their first takeoffs into space as 10-year-olds.
Light-speed cruises past planets and stars projected on the 40-foot diameter planetarium’s dome is turning everyone at this grand opening into a kid. Exploring the infinity of time and space has a way of reframing scale. Eighty-four years ago, the museum gathered more than 500 people to dedicate a 10-inch reflector telescope that invited peeks of Saturn. Journalists at that event surely logged the date in their own mental time capsules. It was Dec. 8, 1941, the night after the “day which will live in infamy,”
My Nov. 13, 2025 time capsule is filling up quickly with warmer memories, along with a payload bay of cosmic puns.
‘Nanu, nanu’
For those 2075 readers in need of historical context, the big news of this moment is that the U.S. government just ended the longest shutdown in history.
So naturally, I’m grilling U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., about his decision to punctuate his dedication address with a 47-year-old TV sitcom reference: “Nanu, nanu, Mork out” (which seems to grant me the liberty to greet him as Congressman Mork in future encounters).
Seeing stars: Planetarium shows will be open to the public Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons and throughout Saturdays and Sundays. Pre-registration is encouraged.
‘They love hearing about black holes’
It’s hard to blame Congressman Mork. On opening night, space puns are as irresistible to this crowd as the Milky Way pudding snacks served to the founding investors.
“Welcome Earthlings,” beams former Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele, who is a capital campaign co-chair of the $16-million project with his wife Carol. The atmosphere is filled with shoutouts to David Bowie’s Major Tom, Jeff Bezos’ rockets and references to “laser-focused vision” and “constellation of support,” etc. Artist Laurie Guzda wins the space race, using herself as a canvas by dressing as a silver-suited astronaut.
Thankfully, the kids are already on board with the “true hard science” that SMNC Chief Executive Officer Melissa Mulrooney aspires to deliver. The astronomy center is to begin welcoming students Monday, and already has 3,138 of them signed up for educational programs.
Eder, for one, isn’t worried about the future.
“The 10-year-olds are all over YouTube finding astronomy videos. They know more than some professional astronomers do at this point,” he says. “They love hearing about black holes, about how the universe ages.”
The adults are drawn into the second-floor STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) lab by the gravitational pull of lessons about bottle rockets and plasma balls. Others can’t resist forming (fittingly) concentric circles as they wait in a queue beneath the rollback roof on the third floor to gaze into the 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflecting telescope. Like their 1941 counterparts, the guests are looking for Saturn.
Back on the first floor, newly arriving guests are greeted by the past in the form of the Spitz A-1 projector that debuted in the Bendel Mansion at SMNC in 1958 and has been restored to factory condition by historian Stephen Pielock.
Yes, there will be laser shows
Eder reminds me that “some people are not interested in science,” thus the generations of laser rock shows that have become synonymous with “planetariums” in pop culture.
I ask Eder for his personal greatest hit.
“My favorite is definitely laser Led Zeppelin … but I want to start off with a classic …”
“Wait, how is Zep not a classic?” the snarky journalist interrupts.
“… ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ ” he finishes.
I stop talking. Trust the guy with the master’s in physics. He may summon Pink Floyd to lure visitors to fill the 100 seats, but he also has visions of engaging citizen science and research at the observatory. We also explore why earthlings from Connecticut should stop by in the hibernal months rather than waiting for summer.
“The sky is just so much crisper and cleaner in the wintertime,” Eder explains.
(Note to 2075 readers: Zep will surely still sell tickets.)
‘Poor little Pluto’
A charming theme of the evening is the universal appreciation of Mulrooney’s resolve to see this project realized after 20 years in the captain’s chair. The results left her “gobsmacked.” In retracing her map to the stars, she recalls sharing plans for the Astronomy Center with Himes when he first took office 16 years ago.
On the scale of enthusiasm, Mulrooney has competition from Kristin Sinatra, who handles marketing for SMNC. Sinatra traces her love of astronomy back to childhood days doodling the solar system on placemats while sitting with her dad in diners.
“Back when Pluto was acknowledged as a planet,” she recalls, adding that Carl Sagan tops her wish list of fantasy meetings with historical figures.
Pluto’s status seems to be a sore point with Sinatra. This event is ideal for her to wear a constellation of charms around her neck that she’s collected over the years.
One documents the distance of each planet from the sun. Another “is my favorite because it has poor little Pluto’s lifespan as a planet.”
It is, indeed, a dwarf tombstone in charm form, bearing the dates 1930-2006, the latter reflecting Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet.
Sinatra moved from Norwalk to Florida after the pandemic and has been working virtually for the last four years. Mulrooney greeted her return with a personal tour Wednesday, capped off with a demonstration of the planetarium from the man behind the steering wheel to the universe.
“Where do you want to go?” Eder asked.
And Sinatra was a kid again.
“Europa,” she replied. “I want to go to Europa.”
And off they went to explore the smallest of the Jupiter’s quartet of Galilean moons.
Meanwhile, back on Earth
Mulrooney and Sinatra were grounded after their Wednesday journey by an uninvited guest.
Astronomy is just one of the missions on the 118-acre campus of the Stamford Museum & Nature Center. The other three are nature, agriculture and art.
The 11,000-square-foot astronomy complex is a marvel of form and function. The silo conceals the elevator while reminding guests that they are surrounded by farm animals.
Animals who were here first.
So space and time were put in context when Mulrooney and Sinatra were admiring the new silo only to notice a tapping beat that was not being produced by construction workers.
It came from a woodpecker poking holes in the silo.
“It is who we are,” Sinatra says with a smile and a sigh.
A humble but mighty woodpecker aligning the stars of their mission.
John Breunig is an editorial page editor with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. Having worked as a reporter, photographer, city editor, managing editor, page designer and sports editor, John has started work at every hour of the day at one time or another. His wife cracks wise that as a Jesuit-educated Libra, John weighs all sides and takes far too long to make any decision. Naturally, that has led to his current gig as editorial page editor for the Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time. As a columnist, he has written about poverty, sexual assault and gun safety, but inevitably gets the most reader feedback to lighter fare about raising The Kid. breunig@hearstmediact.com; twitter.com/johnbreunig
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