The Edelman Planetarium will be putting on their new show, “Big Astronomy: People, Places, Discoveries” in the science hall every Saturday at 5:30 p.m. until the end of November.
The show features three of the best observatories in the world which are all located in the Andes Mountains and Atacama Desert in Chile. Narrated by Chilean astronomer Barbara Rojas-Ayala, the audience is able to immerse themselves and explore the observatories as well as their high-class telescopes. Chile’s climate and remote deserts make the perfect place for observational astronomy.
The three observatories the audience is transported to are the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the Gemini South Observatory, and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. Rojas-Ayala introduces the audience to various engineers, technicians, and astronomers, who teach how much work is needed to take care of these gigantic optical telescopes.
The observation also includes information about these telescopes. Hundreds of engineers gather to send data back and forth to one another to learn more about the universe.
Towards the end of the program, the audience previewed a new Chilean observatory that is in the process of being built. When completed, the new observatory will hopefully lead to the discovery of even more planetary data to be uncovered by the public.
For the last 30 minutes of the show, the presenter at Edelman Planetarium taught the audience how to find several main constellations found in the northern sky such as Cassiopeia, Cepeheus, Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor.
Tickets must be purchased in advance. Admission price is $5 for adults and $3 for children, seniors, and Rowan Students (with valid ID).
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