Students and community members experienced a stargazing night and explored the wonders of space activity at the Planetarium nights event.
The planetarium consists of a thirty-five foot diameter hemispherical dome, which helps students visualize the planets, constellations and other astronomical matter.
The astronomy departments main purpose is to reach out to extend its accessibility to the community and for students to learn more about the world above with a variety of movies the department staff has ready for audience members to watch.
“The shows are preceded by a talk geared to audiences of all age groups. It gives adults a chance to experience what an astronomy class is like and also spark curiosity in the minds of young children,” assistant professor for mathematics and astronomy Jorge Ramirez said.
This semester, the astronomy department has demonstrated four shows in the planetarium, all in the D Building with free admission.
The planetarium nights show seemed to be a success with the demonstrations. Majority of the audience members were students and the rest consisted of community members.
“It was a great immersive experience that not only had amazing images, but was also very informative of the history of astronomy. Being able to see images of earth and the universe in a planetarium room setting was captivating,” LBCC student Alondra Ramirez said.
The event gave an in depth visual scene where students and the community could comprehend the mysteries of space with ease.
The department put on at least two back to back shows to accommodate those who speak English or Spanish. For the Friday night show, it started at 6:15 p.m. and was demonstrated in Spanish and then demonstrated again at 7 p.m. in English.
While the staff plans to expand the planetarium nights for a much diverse language setting, professor of Astronomy and Physics Loredana Vetere explained more about the expansion.
“I acquire the movies also in other languages such as Italian, French, and German so that even other departments like the language department can enjoy them,” Vetere explained.
The Planetarium Nights program event was supported by the astronomy department and many of the astronomy professors would like to expand their programs and bring in new ideas for this type of curriculum.