Corey Verkouteren
This past Thursday the Alderson Hancock Planetarium held its monthly show open to the public. The events highlight some fascinating things to find in the sky, followed by a movie that gets projected across the entire planetarium!
Starting with “star talk,” the presenter, Franci Bolden, discussed the uniquely bright moon, the Milkyway, and currently visible planets and constellations. Jupiter, a large yellow dot currently in the Aries constellation, started discussion of zodiac constellations. These constellations share the same part of the sky as the planets and give us our zodiac signs. Aldebaran, the bright “eye” of Taurus, the Pleiades star cluster, which is actually on the Subaru logo, and the Summer Triangle were also highlighted during the talk.
This month’s movie was The Hot and Energetic Universe, which went through a brief overview of our findings in astronomy over the years, tools we used, and, primarily, how high energy waves are created and observed. Massive space events such as supernova and the resulting objects such as black holes were discussed in how they emit x-rays and gamma-rays. It also covered more broad topics such as the primordial universe, which would not have been able to be studied without our ability to record high energy wave data.
December will bring the popular Season of Light show on the 9th at 3p.m., the 14th at 7p.m., and the 17th at 3p.m. Be sure not to miss more educational and fascinating planetarium shows!
