Before I became a teacher at NFLS, I used to work in a science museum called Dynamic Earth. It’s an impressive building, created in 1999 to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium, and showcase knowledge of geography and the interconnectedness of all things on Earth. Beyond the Earth, the museum also explores what lies beyond – planets, stars, galaxies, satellites, and the general majesty and mysteries of space. Enter: the planetarium.
A planetarium is a large domed room where a series of projectors create images on all sides of the viewer, essentially surrounding them and placing them directly in the middle of the action. Videos are in front, on both sides, directly above and even behind, creating a viewing experience unlike any other type of cinema, one where the viewer is constantly moving their head to try and capture everything – an impossible task in a 360-degree room! The average planetarium seats about 100 people: not huge, but when you’re presented with the entirety of the universe above your head, it feels like the room stretches for eternity. Dynamic Earth’s shows cover a range of topics, from climate change to oceanography, but by far the best show (in my humble opinion) is the stargazing show. Over 25 minutes, guests are able to stare at the stars above them, free of the usual constraints of cloud cover or light pollution, and enjoy stories: stories of hidden constellations, stories of stars a thousand times bigger than our sun, and stories of dramatic rocket launches, firing people out of our atmosphere to dip our toe in the darkness.
The power of a planetarium lies in its ability to connect the viewer with the universe – we so often think of space as “the great beyond”, obscured at night time, so hard to reach and explore given humanity’s technological and biological limits. But in a planetarium, one can go beyond, reach up and almost touch the stars, and explore the furthest edges of the universe without leaving their seats. By finding our place in the endless darkness, it connects us to our planet, our whirling blue marble flying through space. We learn to appreciate all that exists around us, how fragile it all is, and how we must work together as a species to protect it. A planetarium show is entertaining, it’s thrilling, but it can also be humbling! So, if you’re ever at a loss of what to do one weekend, find your nearest planetarium, and let yourself get lost in the stars above…
