Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Sky’s the limit during WCU planetarium visit
Saturday columnist Bill Rettew gets starry-eyed on a visit to the planetarium at West Chester U.
Rule #1: Stars twinkle, planets shine and airplanes move. Rule #2: It’s never cloudy in a planetarium.
Rule #3: Just like real stars, the fake ones in a planetarium don’t come out until it gets dark.
I learned these important lessons at last Friday’s presentation given by Dr. Karen Schwarz, associate professor of Earth and Space Sciences, at the Sandra F. Pritchard Mather Planetarium at West Chester University.
A full house, including Girl Scout Junior Georgia Green, a fourth grader at Penn Wood Elementary School, along with the planetarium’s namesake, former WCU Geology professor and alum Sandra F. Pritchard Mather, watched and listened to the live show, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
We flew around the solar system, landed on other planets and left the galaxy, all during an hourlong show.
We learned that while the Greeks were some of the first to “connect the dots” in the night sky and create constellations, anyone can imagine their own designs.
With a laser pointer and sketches on the domed roof, we could see how Taurus the Bull, Leo and Pisces were envisioned.
We learned some of the stories behind the constellations although it took some imagination to “see” the physical connections.
Schwarz also told us that 75 percent of us were born under a different zodiac sign than the one reported in the Horoscope section of the newspaper.
We learned how to recognize the Big and Little Dippers and we heard that the North Star or Polaris is the only star that doesn’t move since it is based directly above the North Pole.
We also were told that all the stars are named, with no one able to sell you the naming rights to a star, for you to give it as a birth-
day gift.
The planetarium is also a classroom. Class space fills up very quickly. Non-science students are required to take two science classes and Schwarz said that many are then surprised when they learn that astronomers use a good deal of math and physics.
“A lot of students think it’s easier,” Schwarz said. “We’re not just going to sit in the dark every day.”
One of the first questions I asked was about
the comfy seats that don’t recline very far – less than an office chair or seat in a movie theater – although we’d be spending the next hour looking up.
The almost vertical chairs keep students awake and alert.
The planetarium is fully computerized and Schwarz gives 80 shows per year to students, groups and the public. She can run the planetarium all by herself, while simply manipulating a laptop computer keyboard and mouse, in the dark.
We were warned that while the planetarium and all the equipment is stationary, the stars sometimes move. Motion sickness is a real possibility, like on a speeding rollercoaster.
We were told that if we became dizzy, to simply
close our eyes.
At first, in a well-lit room, we watched as the sun made its journey across the university campus, with night slowly falling.
Our eyes adjusted to the increasing darkness and as we waited, more and more stars became visible.
Stars, including the sun, are light.
“The average person doesn’t know that what they are seeing is very old,” Schwarz said. “When the light is traveling very fast – at the speed of light – it has to travel billions and billions of miles.
“By the time we have that information, it is old.”
Schwarz received her bachelor of science degree in Physics from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Arizona State University.
She is currently investigating how modern planetarium programming can aid students to develop a conceptually accurate understanding of lunar phases, according to a WCU press release.
Mather talked about the benefits of the planetarium named after her.
“I can see all the possibilities for teaching kids,” Mather said. “This is an excellent place to teach kids the wonders of the
universe and show college students what is out there.
“I was probably an astronomer since I was a kid in sixth grade.”
What a wonderful way to spend a Friday night. I’ll be looking up more often now that I understand the stars a little bit better.
And hey, the price is right to hit the backyard and view the North Star and the Big Dipper.
Most Friday nights during the school year the planetarium shows are open to the public.
The site is temporarily down but should soon be back online. For more information, visit www.wcupa.edu/planetarium.