Out of this world! Sci-World’s StarLab Planetarium

Today’s visit from Sci World’s Star Lab planetarium was super cool! It was a challenge to take photos inside the dome, but these snapshots are out of this world!

Our presenter Aanya took us on an adventure exploring the Earth, Moon, Solar System, constellations, Milky Way and the mysterious, black hole.

Lupin thought that the planetarium was really good and so did Sophie. Sophie also really liked exploring the constellations and the meaning behind them. Finn enjoyed seeing the planets and constellations moving across the planetarium skies. Charlotte described the experience as wonderful and found the legend of Scorpius and Orion the most interesting thing that she learnt.

The inflatable planetarium was more than large enough to cater for our whole group and while it was very dark and only a little scary, most children had a great experience exploring the skies and learning about space.

Aanya showed us the Southern Cross and pointed out that many First Nations Australians have known the constellation as an emu’s footprint. In fact, in writing this article, I’ve discovered that this constellation has been of importance to many cultures of the Southern Hemisphere, in particular from Australia and New Zealand. The Southern Cross is known internationally by its Latin name, Crux and is the smallest of the 88 constellations.

We touched on thinking about things from a different perspective with the children and this example highlights how enlightening it can be to be curious and to think critically. Check out this text called Astronomy and Australian Indigenous People by the Astronomical Association of South Australia, and have a quick look at page 12, where it discusses Yankunytjatjara people and the emu’s footprint and the Ngarrindjeri people and stingray Nunganari and sharks Ngarakani.

A couple of children and educators commented that they had no idea that about the emu’s footprint and hadn’t considered that another culture would have a different name for something like the Southern Cross. Minds blown!

I listen to a podcast called Star Talk by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse-Tyson and remember an episode featuring Annette Lee who is also an astrophysicist and an artist. The episode discusses Lee’s work in Indigenous cultures’ star knowledge. You can check the episode out here but note that I haven’t listened to it for a time and can not advise a content rating for children- perhaps check it out for yourself and make up your own mind! DeGrasse-Tyson is a popular science communicator and I’m confident his content is for the most part safe. Here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEj2ea5_ZBE

For more space and science fun for the fambam, check out the Australian Space Discovery Centre in Adelaide, the Adelaide Planetarium at UniSA’s Mawson Lakes Campus, and the Museum of Discovery also in Adelaide. For an informative app for budding backyard astronomers and telescopers, take a squiz at Star Walk 2. I’ve paid for the app and love it! Any astrophotographers out there?