Seeing Stars at the Peterson Planetarium
In January, I attended a viewing of Voyager: The Never Ending Journey at the Peterson Planetarium.
The Peterson Planetarium is in Cram Hall at Emporia State University.
When visitors enter Cram Hall, they will go downstairs to the ground floor where they will find the Peterson Planetarium.
Visitors will then go downstairs again into the planetarium.
The planetarium is like a movie theater. However, instead of having the screen in front of you, the screen is above you. When the presentation began, Mark Brown, Director of the Peterson Planetarium and Science Math Education Center (SMEC), walked us through where the different constellations are in the night sky. We were able to see the stars on the screen above us. We then watched the Voyager documentary. The documentary that I saw was Voyager: The Never-ending Journey, but there are many Peterson Planetarium Shows that are offered at the planetarium. Visitors have to complete a registration for the show that they would like to see. I had never been to a planetarium before, so I thought it was a cool experience.
Activities
Sky Journal- I think that a trip to the planetarium is likely to inspire a night of star gazing. A Kid’s Guide to Stargazing provides guidance on how to complete a sky journal.
Create Flashlight Constellations- If you cannot go outside to see the stars and the constellations, then you can create your own planetarium by projecting constellations.
Resources
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory- This website provides sky watching tips every month.
NASA Science Space Place- Constellations
A tip from someone who has been there.
Students who enjoy going to a planetarium might also enjoy participating in astronomy clubs. Some of the astronomy clubs in Kansas include Kansas Astronomical Observers and Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomers League,
