Written in the stars; Families, kids learn stories inside traveling planetarium
Published 8:28 am Wednesday, July 18, 2018
- Kids and parents line up for entrance into the StarLab Portable Planetarium Tuesday afternoon at I.J. Holton Intermediate School. Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Inside IJ Holton Intermediate School, the wonders of the night sky were brought down from heaven to earth on Tuesday.
Eagle Bluff set up its StarLab Planetarium inside the school’s gymnasium, a 30 feet by 30 feet and 14-foot-high inflatable dome where families had to crawl through a small tunnel lit by red cords. Tightly squeezing into the space that was created within the dome, the projections of a night sky and all its wonders captivated around 60 people inside.
“These constellations tell stories,” Jeff Boland, Eagle Bluff outreach education coordinator, said to the crowd. Boland proceeded to share stories involving Greek mythology through the stars and planets that children and their parents could eventually identify themselves.
“My hope is that they’ll go out into the outdoors,” Boland said. “There’s nothing like the real night sky.”
A projector operated by Jeff Sampson of Eagle Bluff Starlab projects constellations onto the dome Tuesday afternoon at I.J. Holton Intermediate School.
This was a program hosted by the Austin Public Library, thanks in part to SELCO, Minnesota Library Legacy and the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment. Kris Olson, library assistant, and Jessica Lind, youth librarian, shared that Wednesday’s program was the first time that StarLab Planetarium was offered as a public event for the Austin community. They had registration, and were not taken aback by the amount of positive response attendees had given about the planetarium.
“I thought it went excellent,” Olson said. “Hopefully it sparks some interest for people to check out the telescope at the library to find the constellations they learned about today and borrow some of our books on the stars.”
“I was very impressed with the kids and their attention to the constellations,” Lind responded. “They could remember the names and could recite them back.”
Parents also enjoyed the program. Stacy Andersen, of Austin, brought her children and friends to the planetarium in efforts to expose them even more to learning about the environment and the natural wonders that existed alongside them. She had heard about the program through the Reader’s Cafe held at IJ Holton.
“It was a good experience,” Andersen said. “We check out the sky all the time, and we are big fans. We even had telescopes at one point.”
Her son, Landen Andersen, 8, and a Banfield Elementary School student also expressed his excitement at getting a chance to peer into night sky.
“I liked the sun and planets,” he said. “I really liked everything.”
