When I was in grade school, my Aunt Evelyn took me to Philadelphia to see my great Uncle Dave and Aunt Pearl. My visit involved a trip to the Fels Planetarium. I was, so to speak, star-struck! We went into an old building–allegedly the second oldest planetarium in the US–the lights dimmed, and the only things visible was a projector and the only sound was that of our guide. He took us on a journey across the cosmos, which was decidedly smaller than the one we now know. (Only a few galaxies beyond our own, and no Big Bang, quarks, black holes, telescopes in space, or human space flights.) I was enthralled!
I never wanted to be an astronaut, but going to the Fels and perusing my Great Uncle Dave’s entire collection of National Geographic magazines for articles on outer space was an eye opener. At one point I could look into the sky and pick out a few constellations. (Full disclosure: I never did figure out how anyone could imagine Zodiac figures in the stars.) Many years later, my boyhood met my young adulthood.
The Old Fels Planetarium*
My college had several courses for non-majors nicknamed “(fill in the black) for Poets.” To qualify for a teaching license, I had to take one called “Basic Physical Science,” that was divided into three four-week graded units: Biology, Physics, and Astronomy. I took the first two in high school, though I was such a right-brained guy that Mr. Science would have renounced me if I were his only son! The Bio part was boring, but I eked out a C. Physics was another matter. I loved the first week of Chem with my hippie/dippy prof, but then disaster hit in the form of an emergency appendectomy. I missed three weeks of school and flat-out flunked Chem. I needed to have at least a C to get credit for the course. Next up, Astronomy. My boyhood enthusiasm was rekindled and I aced it. My transcript has a C+ for the course, but I’m sure I would have gotten a B or B+ if my appendix hadn’t burst.
Forgive the long intro, but I smiled from ear-to-ear when I read about a local middle school program sponsored by the Northampton Education Foundation (NEF) to interest kids in astronomy. It’s a good idea on its own, but NEF contact [sic] Llama Maynard worked with the middle school’s Matt Heaney on a way to bring a Fels Planetarium-like experience to the kids. Who among us does not love a simple solution to a complex problem? Theirs was a pop-up planetarium!
Pop-Up Planetarium
A what? The idea was an inflatable dome fashioned from black opaque material. Once blown up it looks a bit like a Coleman tent crossed with a flat-bottomed Hostess Snowball. A slit on one side allows students to enter, take a chair, and enjoy a show like mine at the Fels, except it was brought up-to-date. Kids spoke of the excitement of seeing a supernova, learning how galaxies formed, and traveling through Saturn’s rings. They even witnessed a simulation of the Big Bang. Now that’s creative teaching for impressionable young folks.
Who knows what they will carry with them from the experience. An uptick in telescope sales? An obsession with star charts? Future space voyagers? I’m still not going up there until science builds something akin to the Star Trek Enterprise. But if the planetarium experience sticks and inspires some young “poet” to get a good grade in a college science class, the pop-up planetarium will have been a very good idea!
Rob Weir
* I may be wrong, but I believe the old Fels was abandoned and that the new one is inside of the Franklin Institute.
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