On Friday 23rd March 2018 the Mobile Digital Planetarium visited our school for the first time to present and demonstrate, inside a hemispherical dome, a film related to contemporary astronomical discoveries. The images projected on the internal screen of the entire dome, which had a diameter of six metres, and total screen surface area of 57 square metres, produced an incredibly impressive spectacle.
The programme, shown to all of our senior school pupils, was entitled “From Earth to the Universe” and presented the newest facts about our Solar System, our Galaxy and the Universe; facts that are now established not only by observations from Earth but also from space probes sent outside our small planet to our solar System and beyond! The newest findings of astronomy were inconceivable to people who lived before us and we are privileged to now know, as a consequence of astronomical research, that our own place in the universe is not unique. Our pupils learned this during our Astronomy Day. They also had the opportunity to observe the sun, the moon and clouds through a telescope, erected in the playground and fitted with special filters.
Astronomy Day was a day enjoyed by all and we sincerely hope to enjoy many more visits from the Mobile Planetarium. The plan is to observe the night sky and its splendour this coming autumn. Until then, and honouring Stephen Hawking, “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the Universe exist. Be curious.”
