As you enter the room, the lights are softly shining upward, above your head is a pale white dome, leaving you feeling as though you are walking into a snow globe, then the presenter slowly dims the lights and the full 360-degree film begins to play.
Tuesday, Jan. 23 was the second showing of “Distant Worlds: Alien Life?” at the UW Planetarium located beneath the Physical Science Building as part of the institution’s two-month schedule.
The film itself is a full dome movie, shot with a fish-eye camera to present the audience with an immersive experience. “Distant Worlds – Alien Life?” tackles the question that is posed by many: are we really the only ones out there?
It discusses the 2012 flight of the Mars rover, Curiosity, which revealed living microbes from the surface of the Red Planet. The presence of living microorganisms sparked speculation within the astronomy community, which in turn inspired this film.
Perhaps there are truly other planets in the grand expanse of space that have conditions conducive to life, the film suggests. Perhaps these are the planets that have the capacity to sustain intelligent life.
The film covers the topic of possible living species living elsewhere in the universe in an entertaining way, presenting possible scenarios of the daily interactions of aliens from distant planets.
Balloon-like plant or animal hybrids, five-armed animals with two tongues and flying creatures that float effortlessly were part of the presentation.
“The thought experiment got a little wild,” UW Planetarium Coordinator Samantha Ogden said. “I’m glad that [the narrator] reiterated that it was hypothetical.”
Not all of the UW Planetarium’s shows depict such ideas that seem to be merely science fiction, however. The variety of shows shifts regularly.
“The presenters who do the shows on Friday nights and Saturday mornings get to pick whatever topic they’re interested in,” said Ogden. “They do the research, they put the visuals together and they put together their own live show.”
A recurring show presented by the Planetarium has been coined “Wyoming Stargazing,” which covers things one will be able to see in the Laramie night sky including eclipses, meteor showers, constellations and visible planets.
“This month I would talk about supermoon stuff, constellations that you can see, certain planets that might be visible and those things,” undergraduate of Astronomy and Physics, Nicholas Trimble said.
Trimble enjoys the array of topics he is able to bring to the public.
“[The Planetarium] allows me to expand outside my classes, do research on other topics and bring that to the public, to educate the public and bring people to that atmosphere and try to make them interested in those things,” Trimble said.
Attendance to planetarium shows is not only limited to university students. There are private showings, school groups, UW classes, birthday parties and engagements available.
A new show, “Pluto Reclassified,” will be part of the presentation schedule in Feb. It will discuss what happened to Pluto and where it is now in the eyes of astronomers to help clear any confusion still held by society.
“A lot of people know some things about Pluto, but there are quite a few misconceptions as well, especially among younger students, that Pluto was blown up or just left to the solar system,” Ogden said. “They hear that it is no longer a planet and their mind runs wild.”
Outside of the structured shows, there are also investigative and hands-on learning events open to the public to enjoy.
Fridays at 8 p.m. until Daylight Savings and Fridays at 9 p.m. after this date are the times when the STAR Observatory on the roof of the Physical Science building is open to members of the community, free of charge.
“We open up the telescopes and you are welcome to come up and join us,” Ogden said. “We can’t control the weather, so you may or may not be able to see anything. If the sky is clear, you should get a pretty good shot of different deep space objects and planets in the night sky.”
Taking advantage of this educational and engaging facility on campus provides multiple options for learning and fun, even outside of the classroom. With such resources available through the Planetarium, there are now more ways to fill a Friday night.
