A starry-eyed experience

– Everything is an Adventure: Column by Julia Wolf –

When my “little sister” through Big Brothers Big Sisters wanted to pay a visit to the planetarium at UW-Eau Claire, I was all on board. STARLAB, a transportable planetarium, was always fun in elementary school. I even did a week-long summer school STARLAB class once.

I did go to a planetarium in Russia, during my time studying abroad in 2017. Most museums were closed that day, because they have a mid-week closure for places that are open on the weekends, so there were not a ton of indoor entertainment options. It was Moscow in winter, after all. With the exception of city parks, even most of the outdoor options were closed.

That planetarium experience was...interesting. I didn’t know when I set out for the planetarium that it was field trip day for the local elementary schools. There were probably 200-300 eight-ish year olds there, plus adults with them.

Then, I hopped in line to buy a ticket. First, they asked me which show (or hall, as it directly translated), that I wanted to see. At that point, I wasn’t sure if it was a night sky show or a space themed science-center type room I was picking. I didn’t bother asking and chose the “big star hall.”

Then, I got asked what time I wanted. My brain recognized the word “time,” but was not matching that up with an English word. Naturally, the lady behind me in line decided to shout “time” in Russian a few more times at me, before I figured it out, looked at the clock and selected a time. Needless to say, her “assistance” did nothing to help me. I can’t even blame the lady for being impatient though. If I was trying to keep track of, and get tickets for, a group of kids, in a sea of other kids, I’d be stressed, too.

I had 20 minutes to waste before my entrance time, so I walked around a few little displays and tried to stay out of the way of the hoards of children, semi-successfully, I might add.

Once it was my entrance time, I went to the correctly numbered room. It was a night sky show.

Since it was clearly an appropriate showing for elementary students, I thought I stood a chance of figuring out what they were talking about, and maybe even learning a new word or two. I did not. I heard the words star, planet, big and small. That’s about it.

However, the graphics were very neat. It felt like you were in space, instead of just looking at the sky from Earth, complete with those giant, reclining, movie theater seats, to help you look at the correct angle. I just learned absolutely nothing. The experience was memorable enough to be worth it, though.

My “little’s” and my trip to the L.E. Phillips Planetarium was much calmer. The room was smaller and more like a permanent STARLAB, which allowed for a more personalized presentation. Better yet, the presentation was in English, so I actually learned something. I probably won’t retain much of it, but it was fun.

Maybe next time I’m under the night sky, I’ll be able to point out an extra star or two.