[ VIEW THE NIGHT SKY ]
Starry nights
Bishop Museum Planetarium
Before there was IMAX, there was the local science-museum planetarium. You could lie back, drink in the enormous starry bowl of night and ponder the vastness of the universe, aided by portentious music and Boy-Scoutly enthusiastic "star guides" running the show. A planetarium show puts you in your place. It can be a deeply meditative experience.
In the '80s, however, planetarium shows became more dogmatically "entertaining," snazzy and brisk instead of reflective. Bishop Museum's planetarium, one of the best, also became known as the place where Polynesian navigators-in-training reacquainted themselves with the night sky.
Bishop's planetarium recently re-opened as the Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium. Thanks to the ever-generous Watumull family, the planetarium now has new, cushy seating, new carpet, new lighting and new signs. The center box surrounding the fairly new star projector has been cut down, improving sight lines.
The new show, a co-production by Bishop Museum, NASA and the Explorers Center, is called "Explorers of the International Space Station." It's an introduction to the world of living in space, told through the dialogue of astronauts and cosmonauts. It's a little confusing until you realize the time period is a few years in the future, when the station is more complete than it is now. It make excellent use of projected video and sound effects, and is a first-class effort.
There are a few of informational pit stops during the prerecorded show, during which the star guide has the audience engage in hand exercises illustrating the principles of eclipse, penumbra and albedo, and this is very effective. We also learn when the space station is visible from Hawaii and what's happening during the rare close pass Mars is making to Earth this year.
Alternating with "Explorers" is "Red Planet Mars," developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science and adapted by Bishop Museum. On Aug, 27, Bishop Museum will host "Night of Mars 2003": The museum will be open from 9 p.m. to midnight and volunteers from the Hawaiian Astronomy Society will be on the Great Lawn with telescopes.
For information, call 848-4168 or check with www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium.
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