The Minolta Planetarium at De Anza is once again hosting its famed laser light shows, this time with its own laser system. De Anza hopes proceeds from the legendary shows featuring '70s rock will help the college restore or rebuild the planetarium, which still carries equipment older than the music pulsing over its loudspeakers. De Anza's shows are now the only ones of their kind in Northern California.

Caron Blinick, dean of community education, says that De Anza was one of the first places in the U.S. to offer laser light shows in the 1970s, but the shows ceased before disco was even dead. A brief revival in the '90s came to a premature end when the provider of the laser system pulled out. "We became so well known for the shows that we've been getting calls ever since we stopped, asking if they're coming back," Blinick says.

In the meantime, the planetarium's 50-foot dome was used for De Anza classes and available for parties and star shows on the weekends. The proceeds from these events bankrolled the purchase of a laser system earlier this year. The manufacturer built the refurbished system to De Anza's specifications for a reduced price, since a new system can cost well over $100,000. "It wasn't a huge investment. For the school kids who come in here for the star shows, this is the technology of their generation," Blinick says.

"It's a fantastic laser system, and we're still learning its capabilities. It far surpasses any system we had before," adds Karl von Ahnen, the planetarium's technical director. "It's one of the most usable lasers in the world." The system weighs 400 pounds and consumes so much power that it requires a water cooling system. It can also perform to the specifications of both the International Laser Display Association System and the Laser Performance System—the two leading laser protocols. Its X-Y projection system allows for the prepackaged laser shapes to be twisted and turned in three dimensions, which can be augmented by rectangular 3D glasses straight out of 1950s' movie theaters.

But the purpose of the laser system isn't strictly for entertainment. The laser has become part of De Anza astronomy classes, which inhabit the planetarium for much of the day, and has also been implemented in the regular family star shows. But once Saturday night rolls around, the planetarium is devoted to a slightly older crowd—the 9 p.m. show features music from The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," 10:15 p.m. is for Led Zeppelin's "A Whole Lot a Led" and the 11:30 p.m. show is the laser-show classic, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."

These preset programs came with the laser system, but much of the show's artistry is up to the laserist. De Anza's laserists were trained in an extensive three-day session with famed laser artist Scott Huggins. "It comes with raw shapes that move and that's about it," says Naomi Blinick (Caron's daughter), a photography student at De Anza. "We get control of the color, size and symmetry, and there are amplitude and frequency oscillators." These features not only make sure each show looks like a lesson in psychedelic physics, but also ensure that no performance is exactly the same.

As the only planetarium in the area that offers laser light shows, De Anza hopes to fill its 170 available seats for every show. But those seats are the same ones originally installed in Minolta Planetarium 33 years ago, and in a reflection of its origins, the new laser system should help generate the funds to replace them.

"We're planning for either a major renovation or to just tear the planetarium down and rebuild," Blinick says. "There's been a huge jump in planetarium technology in 35 years." Just one of the items needing replacement is the planetarium's star projector, which can recreate the night sky from any given vantage point on earth and illuminate it on the building's dome.

Minolta donated the projector during the planetarium's construction in 1970, but the equipment is now well past its prime and will cost $1.5­1.8 million to replace. While De Anza has been requesting federal appropriations funds and working with local businesses like Silicon Graphics, the revenue from laser light shows will bring in the majority of the necessary funds.

It shouldn't be a problem reeling people in with the dazzling colors blossoming on the planetarium's dome in time to a classic-rock soundtrack. At some points, the senses are so overloaded that it's difficult to choose between covering your eyes or ears. It's a trip straight out of the 1970s—but without the drugs.

General admission for the De Anza Planetarium Laser Light Show is $8. For more information, call 408.864.5791 or visit http://www.planetarium.deanza.edu.