Schoolchildren see stars at Central Elementary

PLEASANT GROVE — Kristle-Lynn Ceron likes the fact that she could see stars in the middle of the day inside the bubble planetarium.

Hope Andersen said it was "really cool" to see the constellations move while MaKayla Marquez wants to come back and see more. She likes the sensation in her tummy when the stars zoom in and out.

The time the fifth-graders from Morningside Elementary School spent in Central Elementary's new Digital Planetarium, part of the Christa McAuliffe Space Center, was too short.

They all agreed they would have liked to have spent more than 20 minutes inside the blue, inflatable dome that dominates the storytelling kiva on the north side of the school.

"We're still playing with it," said Aleta Clegg, planetarium director and curriculum specialist. "We're just scratching the surface as to what we can do with it."

The portable, fully digital, Digitarium Planetarium cost about $27,000 and comes with software that is consistently updated as the universe is more fully discovered. It was paid for with money raised with Space Center overnighters and after-school voyages.

It's been in place at the school just under a year, sort of an anniversary present for the center's 20th year.

A complex but simple piece of equipment and structure, it can be operated with an ordinary kind of remote control and adjusted for all kinds of shows from scripted deliveries to customized presentations.

Scout groups, school and church groups, birthday party groups and even adults can utilize the "Star Lab" (as the Space Center's Victor Williamson describes it) for $25 a visit.

The "bubble planetarium" offers a full range of educational opportunities on the screen interior — from maps of stars and planets to the constellations sought and discovered by various cultures the world over, including Aztec, Navajo, Hindu and Egyptian along with the Greeks.

One can check out the exploding stars and interacting galaxies, learn about light years and the vastness of space.

Children and adults sitting or lying on cushions can pick out the Milky Way, see the rings around Saturn or the red spot on one of the moons nicknamed "The Death Star."

Time can spring forward or move backward.

"It's very flexible. We can focus and adapt to almost any group and interest. Part of our strength here is that we can do the live shows easily," Clegg said.

Approximately 250-300 children come to see the planetarium each week, from September to May, in field trips, Clegg said. That many more participate in the Space Center's simulated flights and adventures each week.