Students will be introduced to the planets of our solar system through a slide show. Our instructor will help students identify several constellations visible in the night sky, and introduce some of the folklore surrounding those constellations.
Topics will include: origin of our solar system, satellites of the planets in our solar system, types of stars, star magnitudes, and phenomena outside of our solar system.
The beginning of life and its existence elsewhere remains arguably the most facinating topic in science. Astronomers have discovered - within just the past few years - that many stars have their own planets and that there are millions of other solar systems. Could some of these far-off planets harbor their own life-forms? Could there be any planets resembling Earth? As pointed out by Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, ‘absence of evidence wouldn’t be evidence of absence.’
In the days before city lights obscured most of the stars, elders would tell stories of the constellations to their young. These stories not only entertained, but taught them valuable lessons such as how to tell time, when a new season was approaching, and even how to find their way home at night. While this practice has waned in a world with clocks, calendars, and GPS systems, you can still head back to a previous era at the Planetarium. Join us as we explore this time-honored tradition filled with romance, monsters, morality and one's sense of self.
Did you know that the earth is about two million miles closer to the sun in winter? Our weather, the way we tell time, and how we navigate are all relative to the motion and position of the earth relative to the sun. We will discuss why these things happen and show why the stars at night differ depending on the time of year.
The dinosaurs went extinct, will people? Probably not, but in a billion years things will really heat up, literally. What will happen to our entire solar system? Will our star explode? Did you know that an exploding star can give birth to new stars and planetary systems? Recent discoveries have given us new insight as to how we believe the earth, objects in space, and even space itself will come to an end. We will also discuss black holes, supernovas, and galaxies colliding.
This program can offer an in-depth discussion of astronomical topics ranging from planetary formation, retrograde motion, stellar evolution, and the possibility of life in space. We will also dive into a discussion around the origins of and likely fate of the universe itself.