For a second, everything is completely dark. Then slowly, stars start to appear across the ceiling, spreading out above you. It’s quiet, and suddenly it doesn’t feel like a classroom anymore.
It feels like space.
Most students walk past the planetarium at ELHS without really thinking much of it. It’s just another room in the building. But inside, it’s something incredible.
The dome ceiling changes everything. Instead of looking at a board or a screen, you’re surrounded by whatever the show is about. One minute you’re looking at the night sky; next you’re flying past planets or watching light move across the sky.
There are plenty of different shows, and they all focus on different parts of space. Some explain things like solar flares and what’s happening on the Sun. Others focus on the Northern Lights and why they happen.
There are also shows that follow trips to the moon and future space missions.
And then, there are the ones you wouldn’t expect.
One show follows Big Bird and Elmo as they explore the night sky, which somehow makes learning about space feel a lot more fun and less like school.
It surely is a different kind of learning. Instead of just hearing about something, students can actually see it happening all around them.
The planetarium is used for classes, but also for special shows and events all throughout the year, including the Winter Planetarium Series. It’s something that a lot of students don’t realize they have access to.
At the end of the show, the stars slowly fade away and the lights come back on. Just like that, you’re back in the classroom again. But for a little while, it didn’t feel like it.
