Planetarium Incursions

For those schools that have adopted the curriculum schedules suggested by Primary Connections, we are offering the following Mobile Planetarium Incursions during 2011:

1. NIGHT AND DAY

Incursion: Inside the Mobile Planetarium Dome.
Topics:

• What are stars – how are they made and what are they made of?
• The Sun – a typical middle age star. What does it do for us?
• Why we stay with it – the basics of gravity and its control of space.
• How the Earth moves – daily and annual movement. The rate we travel.
• The Moon. Its origins. The Lunar cycle. What we see. Exploration.
• Eclipses. Solar and lunar eclipses. Full and partial eclipses.
• Background to the solar system. Origins. Components. Exploration.
• The night sky, planets, moon, and constellations.

Throughout the presentation we use modeling, demonstrations, and video clips. A highlight is the trip around the World with Starlab "Earth". The finale is the Star Field projection on the Starlab dome.

2. THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Incursion: Inside the Cosmodome Theatre and Planetarium.

We present a fascinating movie taking pupils through the Solar System. We start with its origins, and then visit the planets in turn, studying their composition and how they vary from each other. We look at their moons, their rings, and the asteroids.

These movies are known as Full Dome or Immersive. They are projected all over the dome, above and all around the students. The movie is followed by "Stellarium" a comprehensive Astronomy program that explores the night sky, explains constellations, and zooms in on planets and the moons.

3. WEATHER

Incursion: Inside the Mobile Planetarium Dome.

Topics: We offer this subject at two levels – Level One and Level Four.

• Weather is caused by the sun, and temperature and pressure changes.
• The cause of the seasons, monsoons, seasonal and prevailing winds.
• Maritime and continental winds and their effects.
• Onshore and offshore breezes. Wind effects on the sea. Ocean currents.
• By popular demand the session includes a look at the night sky, stars, etc.

Please phone us (03 0748 8326) for more information or to discuss your requirements.

With every school visit, teachers are given a complimentary folio of curriculum related work sheets, and a star chart for the evening of that visit.

The presentations above are made up by Starlab projections, backed by photo slides, and special effects videos.

Teachers can select topics and make special requests for content. Efforts are made to allow time for questions and student interaction.