Aluredian 31
Space Odyssey
Planetarium
by Ted Pring T
he Space Odyssey Planetarium
visited King's in February, and gave
the entire 3rd form an amazing
insight into the world of space. The parts
I enjoyed most were seeing the
constellations joined up in front of us.
Before, they looked like a mass of white
dots, but the presentation transformed
them into elaborate pictures - my
favourite was The Bear.
The short video we watched on the
planets showed the sheer scale of some
of the real giants of our galaxy. It was
very interesting to hear about the different
types of 'giants' in our galaxy such as red
and blue dwarfs, and discovering that this
would eventually happen to our own sun
and that it would in time itself become a
black dwarf!
It was intriguing to learn about the history
behind space exploration, and we found
out more about today's satellites that are
in action 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
providing us with non-stop information and
observations.
Seeing the 'Curiosity' (the newest Mars
exploration vehicle) was fascinating,
especially as we heard that it would be in
service very soon on the surface of Mars.
Another surprise was finding out how
many filters there are, including ultraviolet,
infrared and microwaves - all used by
telescopes to detect different colour
patterns on the planets and stars of our
universe. Seeing an ultraviolet image of
the sun was superb as it highlighted the
really concentrated parts of colour in a
truly galactic green shade.
This presentation made me want to know
much more about the structure of our
galaxy and to learn more about the human
contribution, for example shuttle launches
and artificial satellites, that enable us to
discover further the reaches of our
massively unexplored universe.