… including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?

Then, during the third debate last week, he doubled down:

MCCAIN: … including $3 million for an overhead projector in a planetarium in his hometown. That’s not the way we cut — we’ll cut out all the pork.

Okay, people say a lot of damfool things during Presidential campaigns. But as the saying goes, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

I am an astronomer, and an alumnus of UChicago (which pals around with the Adler), so I feel compelled to point out: the overhead projector that the Planetarium needs is not that one, but rather this one:

Also, it wasn’t funded:

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support – which was not funded – to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI projector – not an overhead projector – is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler’s projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the Adler’s 78 years of operation.

Why should we care about this glorified overhead projector? As the Adler press release says:

Science literacy is an urgent issue in the United States. To remain competitive and ensure national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

You betcha.

Update (11/2): natura facit saltus (v455, p1149, 30 Oct 2008)

There are many good planetarium programs that you can access on laptops, but it is really not that much fun to lug them around on camping trips or even out on to the roof at night. But now, thanks to the iPhone (and the iPod Touch) there has been a great leap forward.

The iTunes AppStore now has a number of astronomy themed apps, including apps that tell you the distance to the Moon correct to a meter. But the most impressive of the lot has to be the ones that produce skycharts and let you search for and find stars, constellations, and deep sky objects at any time, from anywhere. There are four such available now: Starmap, GoSkyWatch, iAstronomica, and iStellar.

I have only tried Starmap so far, and it is incredible. The developer says that there is a PRO version in the works, but this one is already plenty good for me.

It is quite well known that, unlike amateur astronomers, professional astronomers are quite ignorant of the night sky. Really, if someone turns us around to face North, we might figure out where Polaris is, but that’s it. Oh, and we can usually find the Moon. And daytime, we can point to where the Sun is, provided it is not cloudy, which though it often is in New England. True story: I still haven’t set eyes on the star which formed the basis of my PhD thesis (α Triangulum Australis; in my defence, it is only visible from the southern hemisphere). But all that is in the past, now I can rediscover my amateur roots, now I am feeling pretty confident that I can find anything, even dear old α TrA, all I need to do is cross the Equator and point with my tricorder.