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Backyard planetarium is the epitome of DIY determination and success

Jan. 19, 2017

With spring quickly approaching, DIYers across the country are revving up their power tools and planning their warm-weather projects.

With spring quickly approaching, DIYers across the country are revving up their power tools and planning their warm-weather projects. With so many possible home-improvement projects on the brain, it's hard to decide where to start. You could build an addition on your house. You could build a decorative flower garden, complete with gazebo. You could build a working planetarium in your backyard. If you are anything like Frank Kovac, the answer is obvious.

According to David Grossman for Popular Mechanics: "Frank designed and built everything, from constructing the entire rotating dome mechanism, to painting all 5,000 stars with glow-in-the-dark paint. The entire project took him about a decade, and now he hosts regular talks at the Kovac Planetarium, with about 4,000 customers per year. The 4,000-pound backyard planetarium stands as the largest, mechanically-driven, revolving dome planetarium in the world, according to Kovac. The entire project cost him about $180,000."

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