Dark and starry night skies won’t disappear entirely from Fairbanks as days get longer this spring and summer. That’s because the University of Alaska Fairbanks is set to unveil the Interior’s first planetarium at a grand opening scheduled for April 25.
The newly-built Walt and Marita Babula Planetarium connects to the west side of the University of Alaska Museum of the North. It’s now the largest of the handful of planetariums in Alaska, according to its director, Omega Smith, who said the 36-foot dome will be a great tool to share astronomy and other scientific research with visitors.
“It’s not just a way to learn about sciences and learn about space, astronomy and beyond – it is a way to actually feel it, to be immersed by it, to really get some inspiration,” she said.
Smith said people can check out the planetarium for free on opening day, when they’ll be running a few short teaser shows per hour. Admission to the 65-seat planetarium normally will be paid and ticketed, and Smith said it’ll have shows both during the museum’s hours and during after-hours events, which will include – but won’t be limited to – shows about current happenings in space science. Smith is also planning regular guest lectures for people to present their research, among other things, she said.
“There will also be entertainment events – not just for science – but having music shows is a big thing in a planetarium, so that is something we will probably be doing, too,” she said.
The idea to build a planetarium at the museum has been around for decades, but the University of Alaska Board of Regents approved schematics for the current project in February 2024. Construction got underway last summer, and total project costs came in at about $9.5 million, according to a February 2026 construction progress report.
The board-approved schematics from 2024 estimated the cost for running the planetarium at about $879,000 per year, which visitation revenue is supposed to partially offset. A 2023 operations plan presented by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophyisical Institute and the museum, which partnered on the project, anticipates getting 20,000 visitors in the first year and about $177,000 in visitation-associated revenue. Those projections grow until year four; from there onward, the plan anticipates about 30,000 visitors per year, clearing $300,000 in associated revenue. Other annual revenue would come from a combination of grants, UAF facility maintenance and operations funds and funding from the Geophysical Institute, the 2023 plan says.
According to the background section in the 2024 schematics, ideas for a planetarium project were brought forward during the museum’s original construction in 1978 and again during its expansion in 2008, but the project wasn’t pursued either time due to “funding limitations.”
The university says it received several donations to help support the new planetarium, but the 5,700 square-foot facility is named after the longtime Fairbanksans who donated about $7.4 million for its construction. Walt Babula in 1974 founded Fairbanks Orthodontic Group, where Marita Babula later became an office manager and treatment coordinator, according to a UAF news release from last year, which said the couple’s donation was the largest the University of Alaska had ever received from living individuals.
The Babulas said in a statement last year they were “pleased to give back to a community that we love.” They said the facility would provide important space science education opportunities and spark the curiosity of Alaskans and visitors to the state.