Date: Fri 18-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-HOM-Starlab-Stewart

Full Text:

Taking A Tour Of The Universe

Head O' Meadow students in Gail Diminico and Linae Collopy's afternoon

kindergarten class anticipate crawling through the StarLab tunnel.

-Bee Photos, Evans

StarLab commander Peter Stewart uses his laser flashlight to trace the

constellations.

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Spaceship StarLab commander Peter Stewart drove into town last week, bringing

the entire constellation of northern hemisphere stars and planets all neatly

folded and tucked into a four-foot square box, stored in the back of his mini

van.

"I live on the road," Mr Stewart said Wednesday, April 9, as he unpacked his

traveling planetarium show - an inflatable reflective dome, complete with a

rotating slide projector and pinpoint projection system.

In less than an hour, he had set up the 30-foot planetarium in the Head O'

Meadow gymnasium, filling it with compressed air to keep its ballooning black

walls upright.

This was to be the third StarLab show in two days, as Mr Stewart had been

scheduled to visit Sandy Hook School, Head O' Meadow School, Middle Gate

School and St Rose School under a joint cultural arts committee shared

program.

Dressed casually, he wore a black T-shirt covered with stars and

constellations that spread across his back, shoulders and stomach. When he

pointed up at the heavens, the Milky Way rippled.

As a former disc jockey and actor, Mr Stewart's voice commanded their

attention as he told the HOM children about his job touring the east coast

region.

He was one of four StarLab representatives, he said, working for Mobile Ed

Productions based in Redford, Mich. It was his third year talking to school

groups and, so far, he was enjoying the experience, mostly because he loved

science and sharing it with young people.

"On any dark night, if you get away from the city lights, you can see the

stars I am going to show you now inside the StarLab planetarium. Hopefully,

you'll learn to recognize them by yourself," he said.

When speaking to younger children, he tried to pique their interest, not

frighten them.

"I don't tell the kindergartners anything about black holes or exploding

stars," he said.

"If they seem nervous, I try to make them laugh," he added.

The most popular portion of the show might have been its beginning, as the HOM

kindergartners crawled into the StarLab dome through a long plastic tunnel - a

necessary precaution to prevent the compressed air from escaping.

"The StarLab has no bottom so I can quickly lift up a side if I have to, to

let a teacher or a child in a wheelchair inside," Mr Stewart explained.

Once safely inside, the children sat down Indian style and watched the show.

Mr Stewart turned off the lights and they "blasted off."

Slides projected on the silver inner surface of the dome showed the outline of

Florida receding below them as they "escaped Earth's atmosphere" and entered

the blackness of outer space.

Then the StarLab turned 180 degrees and was focused on the universe beyond.

Mr Stewart used his laser pointer to trace the outlines of several

constellations.

The HOM children saw the Big Dipper in Ursa Major, the Little Dipper in Ursa

Minor and Draco the Dragon with his tail winding between the two bears.

They learned how to use the Big Dipper to find Polaris, the North Star, then

to continue looking for Cepheus the King (with his pointed hat) and

Cassiopeia, his queen, who was sitting nearby in the shape of a slightly

squashed W.

Orion the Hunter could be seen shooting at Taurus the Bull, and the six stars

in the Plieades cluster were sparkling just beyond Taurus. Sirius, the Dog

Star, shone the brightest.

"The Greeks named the constellations after their gods. To see their shapes,

you have to draw imaginary lines between the stars - sort of like connecting

the dots," Mr Stewart said.

"Always keep your curiosity alive, no matter how old you get," he told the

children as they crawled out of the planetarium the same way they came in.

"I might not be as funny as Bill Nye the Science Guy (on PBS television), but

learning about the stars can be endlessly fascinating."