Stargazing and celebrating the International Year of Astronomy

"Peering through his telescope, what would he see?Four "stars" near Jupiter there seems to be,

Faint and slowly moving from night to night.

Orbiting moons are these points of light!"

-A poem from the International Year of Astronomy.

The International Year of Astronomy is here, but what exactly does that mean? The IYA is an international celebration of numerous astronomical and scientific milestones. They run projects both globally and nationally to help raise awareness of astronomy and strive to connect us all to our cosmic birthplace with science events across the planet that fosters a life-long interest in astronomy. This year Parkland will reach out and help IYA celebrate this wonderful year by partaking in a few of the local events.

The Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society in partnership with the William M. Staerkel Planetarium are hosting a number of events at local parks to give people a close view of the Moon and moons of Jupiter via telescope. These events have been going on since early Spring, but not to worry as there are a few more dates left on the tour this Fall. The telescopes will be brought out to the public for the last time this year on September 22 from 8pm-10pm at Clark Park in Champaign, September 24 from 8pm-10pm at Garden Hills Park and September 28 from 8pm-10pm at Centennial Park pavilion, weather permitting. For more information, please visit cuas.org

These observation events have been going on throughout Champaign Urbana since March 30 and recently started back up in late August. The telescope park nights are aimed at families but hope to lure in curious folks going on a night jog or walk as well. Around four or five dozen people have showed up each night and volunteers stand by to take questions and share knowledge.

Also happening this fall is "Two Small Pieces of Glass," the latest show release at the Staerkel Planetarium, which opened last Friday. "Two Small Pieces of Glass" helps viewers learn how the telescope has helped us understand our place in space and how telescopes continue to expand our understanding of the Universe and was produced in companionship with the documentary, "400 Years of the Telescope," on PBS. The show will run almost every Friday and Saturday night at 8pm.

Another Fall Planetarium premiere that took place this past weekend was "Teddy's Quest," a long-time running show that will be coming to an end at the end of this year. "Teddy's Quest" features a teddy bear from outer space that searches for a friend among the stars, planets and constellations.

Premiering this Friday is a live narrated tour of the wonders of tonight's sky, "Prairie Skies," and accompanied by some of the legendary stories of the ancient sky. Visible constellations and planets will be highlighted and the show is intended for all ages.

While there are new exciting shows coming to Staerkel Planetarium, there are bigger plans for the future of the planetarium.

"The Planetarium was state of the art in 1987 and our Zeiss star projector the first of its kind installed in the Western Hemisphere. However, the life of the equipment is coming to an end. In order to continue Dr. Staerkel's vision of connecting students and the general public to Parkland and to science, we are challenged to once again reach for the stars," said Kris Young, Vice-President of Academic Services at Parkland College.

What does reaching for the stars involve, you might ask? The planetarium is currently raising funds to make the transition to "fulldome immersive video," which involves multiple video projectors being mounted on the planetarium's 50-foot hemispheric dome. The projectors projection areas will border each other, covering the entire dome with video. Software programs will then stitch the screens together and planets will be able to enter the field of view from one screen and seamlessly cross to the other side of the dome, via another projector.

According to the Staerkel Planetarium's Web site, "The full-dome system will allow the Staerkel Planetarium to become more of a 'science center' as it will expand content to cover Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Science. More Parkland classes will be utilizing the planetarium and Natural Science faculty will have input into show design. The planetarium staff has also had conversations with both the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois and Precision Graphics regarding future collaborations."

The goal set by the planetarium is to raise $1.2 million dollars and have already received contributions for about half of their goal. Be sure to make it out to a show, celebrate IYA and support the planetarium as it sets out to kick it up a notch!

For more information regarding IYA, please visit (astronomy2009.us). For more information regarding the Staerkel Planetarium, please visit (http://www.parkland.edu/planetarium/).