Planetarium star shows can cover a range of topics from the latest in cosmology, to popular science, tours of the night sky and national curriculum as well as pre-school, GCSE science and A-level physics related educational material. Shows vary in length, depending upon the age of those in attendance and the range of material being presented and are usually a mixture of educational and entertaining content.
[Image: Artificial northern summer sky with Ursa Major]
[Image: “Pinwheel” spiral galaxy - in Triangulum]
[Image: Artificial northern autumn sky with Cygnus]
Star shows contain a mixture of digital computer still and animated images, slides and movies against the back-drop of an artificial night-time sky, usually (but not neccessarily) with the sky set to the time of year that you visit us. Patterns of stars visible in the sky at the time of your visit are highlighted using constellation projectors that “join the dots” to highlight what they are supposed to look like (see some of the images of what to expect on this page), sometimes accompanied by stories of where these patterns were believed to have originated in Babylonian, Greek or Roman mythology and always with some explanation of other wonderful objects that can be seen in those regions of space.
[Image: Artificial northern winter sky with Taurus]
[Image: Mars - the Red planet]
[Image: Artificial northern spring sky with Orion]
Our optomechanical star projector creates an artifical representation of the real night sky on the 7m dome of our planetarium auditorium (star theatre). All of our shows are given by a live presenter and interaction is encouraged, but only at appropriate junctures as underneath a dome (as with St Pauls Cathedral whispering gallery) sounds “bounce” around and can create too much noise for the enjoyment of others and a cacophony in the ears of the presenter. It is politely requested that all mobile phones are turned off when in the planetarium to avoid interference with our audio-visual systems.
[Image: Artificial northern summer sky with Ophiuchus]
[Image: “Helix” planetary nebula - NGC 7293 in Aquarius]
[Image: Artificial northern summer sky with Sagittarius]
Some of the shows that are available for your visit (including current & past public planetarium shows) are:
- What's Up?
- Wonders of the Universe
- Clash of the Titans
- Black Holes and Beyond
- Powers of Ten: Size of the Universe
- The stars from Down Under
- Secrets of the Sun
- Pyramids in the Sky
- Light Pollution
- Exoplanets and Extraterrestrials
- Sun Signs: zodiac
- Pre-school, KS1, KS2, KS3 & KS4 education based shows
- GCSE science & A-level physics astronomy based shows
