Stars shine on South Campus

Though star-gazing is a near impossibility in Los Angeles due to the bright city lights, there is one place where students and the L.A. community can go to see the stars in the night sky: the UCLA planetarium, which offers both telescope viewing and special topic shows.

Every Wednesday, the UCLA planetarium holds free special topic shows, where graduate students, post doctorates and faculty members discuss not only the current night sky and constellations, but also presentations on specific astronomical topics.

“I think the planetarium shows are invaluable in terms of benefits for both the astronomy student-presenters and the community in general,” said Emily Rice, a UCLA graduate student and the planetarium co-coordinator. “It is enjoyable for me when people seem interested in it and ask me questions afterward.”

Tonight’s special topic show will be “Life in Our Solar System,” which will lead viewers through some of the most probable places where humans can find life or the remnants of life in the solar system, including such promising areas as Mars and Jupiter’s ice-crusted moon, Europa.

“I hope the students that watch my show not only learn about our solar system, but consider what types of environments are hospitable for life, and think more about the reality of the universe,” said Michael McElwain, a UCLA astronomy graduate student who developed the special topic show.

Some of the special topic shows include “Life in the Universe,” “A Tour of the Solar System and Beyond” and “The Hubble Reborn,” developed by NASA’s Hubble Outreach and Education team.

The planetarium shows are run mainly by graduate students in the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Though graduate students who are teaching assistants for astronomy classes are required to give at least one show during the quarter they are teaching, the other slots are filled by graduate students or faculty who volunteer to give the shows.

“The planetarium is a great campus resource for teaching students about astronomy. A simulated, interactive display of the night sky is excellent for a relatively quick explanation of many concepts,” McElwain said.

“You can rotate through an entire day in a few minutes, and then travel to the Southern Hemisphere where the constellations are completely different.”

The planetarium shows include a glimpse of what the stars over UCLA would look like without the city lights via a star projector; views of some of the prominent constellations, trips to the hemispheres, and a view of the Milky Way.

The show concludes with a special topic presentation, which changes from week to week.

Seth Hornstein, a UCLA astronomy graduate student and the former planetarium coordinator, pointed to the benefits of having different topics each week.

“It also allows people who are interested to come back to more than one planetarium show and learn something new each time,” he said.

“Anytime I have heard that someone has come back to another planetarium show just to hear a different special topic show makes me very proud of the shows.”

In addition to these public planetarium shows, several private planetarium shows are held each quarter as well

“Many of our intro astronomy courses use the planetarium for teaching astronomy concepts. So not only does the public benefit from the planetarium, but our students do as well,” Hornstein said.

In addition to the planetarium shows held by the graduate students, there are telescope viewings as well after the special topic presentations, which are conducted by undergraduate students in the Undergraduate Astronomy Society on clear nights.

Attendees are able to look through department telescopes and view different planets, star clusters and other celestial objects, depending on the clarity of the sky and which objects are currently in the sky.

The UCLA planetarium, run by the physics and astronomy department, finished construction in 1957.

Though some improvements need to be made to the UCLA planetarium, such as either the repair of or acquisition of a new star projector to replace the current, 1973 model, the planetarium shows serve as a tool to educate both UCLA students and the community who are interested in learning more about the stars and possibly explore the topics presented in the shows.

“Planetarium shows are also an opportunity for (graduate) students to share what interests them about astronomy with the public,” Rice said.

For more information, visit http://www.astro.ucla.edu/planetarium.