Anyone visiting the Harry C. Vaughan Planetarium in April will have the opportunity to learn about some of our neighbors in the solar system up close and personal.
Travis Laurance, the planetarium’s director, said that April is jam-packed with intriguing events.
“We begin April with a tour of the current night sky. The next two weeks continue our planet series with shows dedicated to Jupiter and Neptune. We end the month with a show about the beginning of our universe and the birth of our solar system,” Laurance said.
Visitors will also be treated to a unique opportunity after certain shows. On select nights, when no laser show is planned, anyone interested will be taken to the physics building roof to take a look through a 16-inch STAR (Student Teaching and Research) Observatory telescope, offering a close-up view of what lies in the night sky.
Samantha Ogden, a presenter in the upcoming shows, uses the planetarium’s technology to inform visitors about many differing topics.
“We introduce a wide variety of findings, hypotheses and theories, as well as the scientific details that led to those discoveries in a way that is compelling to all ages and astronomical backgrounds,” Ogden said.
Renovations to the planetarium were completed last November and with their completion comes the potential for engaging visuals that convey astronomical ideas in stunning ways.
Shows now use the 3-D dome to provide an immersive theater-like quality to planetarium shows, which plays a role in trying to bring interest in astronomy to a wider audience.
“With the remodel, we are no longer bound to the surface of the planet,” said Tyler Ellis, a planetarium presenter. “We can now fly through the galaxy or dive into a star cluster. The visuals are incredible and the information is now presentable to the audience, that is we no longer have to just say these objects exist and have them take it on faith,”
The first show of April is Friday at 7 p.m., with a presentation of what can be seen in the night sky during the month of April and a laser light show to follow.
