The Manfred Olson Planetarium

I’ve always been fascinated by the stars. Stars are mystical, scientific and historic. As a kid I loved learning about the constellations and the stories behind them. As an adult I love learning about space and all of the wondrous phenomena that exist and all the amazing things that studying the stars has taught us about our own planet.

FYI: My scientist boyfriend told me that the element Helium was predicted by analyzing light from the sun before it was even discovered on earth. So, looking at the stars is literally like staring back in time. We can look to see what the universe looked like millions and millions of years ago... Needless to say, stars are cool stuff!

While I've learned about the stars in our universe from my science book years ago in school, seeing Stars in the Spring at The Manfred Olson Planetarium made it more exciting and real than any of those science books ever could.

Located on the north end of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, The Manfred Olson Planetarium hosts Friday Night Shows every week. Pressed for time, Eric and I scampered into the building that acts as the hub for the Planetarium and proceeded to a folding table in the middle of the lobby where we paid $1 apiece for the show. $1 is quite a deal!

We entered the dimly lit room and spotted two open seats surrounded by three other rows, which encircle a large projector in the middle of the round room. To my surprise the space was brimming with students, families and several couples looking to do some stargazing.

Promptly at 7 p.m., a woman with thick glasses and a fleece pullover appeared from behind a desk near the entrance and gently closed the door. “This will be a great spring for looking at the stars,” she enthusiastically announced. The woman was Planetarium director and astronomer Jean Creighton. Creighton is responsible for creating and directing all of the themed and sequential shows at UWM’s Planetarium and she was keenly interested in getting people into science.

The first part of the program consisted of a brief interactive session where Creighton used a globe to demonstrate how the Earth rotates around itself and around the sun, and how with every season’s change, the night sky also changes. Meanwhile, Creighton asked many questions that weren’t too tricky, so most of the kids in the audience willingly threw up their hands to participate, although most of the adults remained quiet.

Fifteen minutes later, the lights dimmed and we were encouraged to sit back in our comfy seats and focus on the dome ceiling. Then, the sky-blue lights faded to a soft shade of red as dusk was simulated, and then to a dark blue as night took over.

The presentation began with an accurate view of the sky from downtown Milwaukee. Of course, since we live in an urban area, there’s always the problem of light pollution, which comes from excessive or misdirected outdoor light. As far as I know, light pollution isn’t harmful to the Earth, but sadly, in many large metropolitan areas it’s becoming increasingly difficult to trace out even a simple star pattern like the Big Dipper. That's why you have to travel away from city to get a good view of the stars.

After we got acquainted with the sky as we are used to seeing it from downtown, the simulated light pollution was reduced and we left the city behind. It only took a few seconds before it felt like we were sitting in a field in the middle of the country somewhere, staring up at the bright, twinkling stars. It's incredible how much of the sky we are missing.

While far from the city lights, we were able to admire the beauty of the astronomical objects in the spring sky such as fixed stars like Polaris (the North Star), the sun and the moon, galaxies and nebula, and various constellations and planets – Venus is visible at sunrise and Mars is clear in the early evening.

The movement of the sky and the motions of the stars and planets and other celestial things were accurately represented, although a one-day rotation (from dawn to dusk) was compressed into just a half hour. The sped-up tour of the sky allowed us to see in mere minutes the motions that would actually take the celestial bodies hours to complete – and seriously, we had other places to go on Friday night, so the 55 minute class was a perfect amount of time to learn a thing or two about the sky and its stars.

My favorite part of the program was learning how to find constellations. Creighton used a red laser pointer to coordinate the lines for locating pictures of animals like Leo the Lion and other forms associated with constellations of the zodiac. But, most of the constellations’ images are very ambiguous – Virgo which is supposed to represent a young woman actually looked more like a stepped on box. So, trying to decipher each shape got a little frustrating for me.

Also during this part of the program, we listened to stories connected to the brave hero Hercules and enjoyed the myth of Persephone, a loving goddess connected to the occurrences of the seasons, and how each relate to spring and to the night stars. “People like cool stories,” said Creighton and spring constellations are chock-full with some of the most entertaining tales.

Throughout the entire presentation, I couldn't help but think about how far away those constellations really are, yet how we can catch a faint glimpse of them every now and again. It’s also amazing to think about how big the universe and how far infinity really is – it makes the Earth and all of us seem a little less significant, doesn’t it? After all, Earth and its sun, moon and star only make up one piece of our solar system, which is only one galaxy among millions of other galaxies and amid a near infinite number of stars that stretch far, far beyond the eye can see.

Then in no time, we were back to daylight.

The program was educational, romantic and entertaining all at once. And you really can't beat the price. Since then, a day hasn’t gone by when I haven’t paused to briefly gaze up at the night sky to think about what I learned and to try to find a few of the constellations we discussed.

If you can’t make it to any of the Friday Night Shows, the entire Planetarium can be reserved for private functions, such as birthdays, school groups, or anniversaries for $25.

For a unique way to spend an hour on a Friday night, I recommend heading over to UWM and checking out The Manfred Olson Planetarium.

The photo of the projector was taken from the UWM website.

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The Manfred Olson Planetarium
UW-Milwaukee Physics Building
1900 E Kenwood Blvd
Milwaukee, WI 53211
(On the corner of Kenwood and Cramer)
Friday night at 7 p.m.
General admission is $1.00. Tickets go on sale in the Physics building lobby at 6:30 p.m. No reservations required.
The program is not intended for children under 5. The theater is wheel-chair accessible.
(414) 229-4961 for private party reservations

Comments

[Amanda]

Neat! That sounds like a lot of fun. I used to go to UWM and I didn't know the planetarium offered public shows every Friday night! I'm glad I know now. Good find.

[Krista]

Hey Karen,

Holy cow I haven't been over here in forever! Just wanted to tell you that you're doing an AWESOME job! Man, I miss Milwaukee.

(I'm totally adding you to my Google Reader right now so I can keep up from now on).

[Krista]

And FYI: LOVE the hair!

[Karen]

Krista, THANKS!

Would it be weird if I said that I missed you around here? Well, I guess I said it anyway. But I do! I hope you come back more often! Seriously. Woman, don't make me beg!

Nevertheless, I still read your blog pretty regularly.

P.S. The hair is changing again on Saturday. It's great having a friend who's a stylist! :)

[Sue]

I didn't even know this existed; then again I've never been on the UWM campus. But still, what a great and inexpensive thing to do with your kids on a Friday night! Thanks for the info!