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A date with the celestial Planetarium event to elevate students minds
It can take years for humans to visit Jupiter, but in the span of a few minutes, you can witness the beauty and majesty of the planet and beyond.
The Astronomy Department is hosting a free planetarium show on Monday, Nov. 21, from 5- 7 p.m. in the planetarium at CSF9. Dale Fields, chair of the Physics and Planetary Sciences Department, will be organizing and hosting the event as well as operating the planetarium.
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“People come out and actually see things that they might have never seen. All of our lives tend to be focused forward or sideways on the human level,” Fields said. “A lot of the time we don’t look down below to see what the ground below our feet is doing, nor do we look up overhead to see what the sky is doing. It’s a chance to see something different.”
During the planetarium show, guests will look at local galaxies and how they interact with dark matter, the Solar System, it’s moons and the surfaces of different worlds, Fields said.
According to Fields, the Astronomy epartment has been hosting various astronomy events since the inclusion of the planetarium in the Center for Sciences. For the last six years, the department has hosted two planetarium shows and two telescope nights every semester, Fields said.
“[The event] is focused on seeing all the cool stuff that is out there to see in the universe.
It’s a chance to give back,” Fields said. “We could just have them purely for the astronomy classes, but astronomy is something that connects to everyone. Everyone has an interest in the sky.”
According to Fields, in August 2017 the United States will have the best view of a solar eclipse it’s had in a couple decades. Fields will talk about the eclipse and provide a demonstration that shows the path of it as it travels.
“We’ll move the planetarium through time and we can actually see the eclipse going on as we go through time. We’ll watch the moon go over the sun. They happen almost every single year, but they occur at various different places,” Fields said.
