Montgomery College's Planetarium, Grade-Specific School Programs

Picture of school group coming to the planetarium at Montgomery College

THE NIGHT SKY FOR ALL

A planetarium visit can inspire the wonder of the night sky at any age or grade level. Our children are deprived of the night sky because of early bed times, unsafe outdoor conditions, and light pollution in cities; but we offer the night sky at every visit to the planetarium. The Spitz 512 planetarium projector shows 1,834 naked eye stars, the Milky Way (the band of diffuse light caused by the disk of our own galaxy), the five naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), the earth's moon, and the large and small Magellanic clouds (companion galaxies of our own Milky way that are visible from the southern hemisphere). The planetarium star projector allows us to take a trip to any place on the earth and view the sky. The large and small Magellanic clouds, for instance, are not visible from the Washington metro area. The planetarium star projector allows us to take a trip forward or backward in time and to see the constellations shift positions with different north and south pole stars-these shifts are not perceptible within a single human life time. The planetarium star projector allows us to compress time and see the motion of the planets (planet means "wandering star") with respect to the fixed stars-these motions would require months of nightly observations in order to see them in the real sky. But even with all of this to offer, so much more can be done within the Montgomery College, Takoma Park/Silver Spring planetarium. Using the Program of Studies from the Office of Instruction and Program Development, Montgomery County Public Schools, we have planned the following grade-specific planetarium programs.

Kindergarten: Star Patterns

None of the County instructional objectives for kindergarten are directly addressed by planetarium programs, although concepts such as "near and far," "large and small," and similar comparisons certainly apply. Suggestions from imaginative teachers are welcome. However, many kindergarten children are afraid of the dark unless the number of hand-holding adults is at least one for two children. (Most first graders are not afraid of the dark if warned in advance.) If you have a kindergarten class that you would like to bring to the planetarium, please give me a call. Children at this age are very good at learning and recognizing patterns in the sky.

First Grade: Sun Shadows

Universe in Change: "Identify that the position of shadows cast by objects in the sun changes during the day.'' An equatorial sundial made of a card with a drinking straw as a gnome illustrates this well. Both students and teachers can build this simple object. The students will need help in installing the soda straw at the correct angle. However, even if the angle is wrong and the gnome is not oriented close to true geographical north, the shadow change throughout the day is apparent. In the first grade clock reading is generally also an objective, and a correctly made and pointed equatorial sundial is readable directly in hours, just like a clock face. Of course, it will read local apparent solar time, not zone mean solar time.

Second Grade: Sun-Earth-Moon Dance

Universe in Change: "Describe revolution as movement around an object." One year passes when the earth revolves about the sun. A small globe moved about an incandescent light, the sun, demonstrates this. "Describe rotation as the spinning of an object in complete turns on its axis." One day passes when the earth rotates about its polar axis. An incandescent bulb in a fixed spot (the sun) and the same globe demonstrate day and night. Once the students see revolution and rotation modeled as they would appear from outside the solar system, then they are ready to view the same thing as seen from the earth, projected on the planetarium dome.

Third Grade: Measurer's of the Solar System

Universe in Change: "Identify the relative position of the planets to the sun." Students can build a scale model of the solar system with the earth as a peppercorn, the sun as an eight-inch ball, and Jupiter as a chocolate-covered cherry. An outdoor walk of 1,000 yards times shows the distance between the planets correctly. Such "planet models" have been assembled in the planetarium now. If the teacher will bring at least one chocolate covered cherry for each student, then we can eat Jupiter. The other planets are edible, but not particularly palatable (except Uranus and Neptune, the Spanish peanuts, and Saturn, the corn nut). We can munch on the smaller planets, too, if you bring enough Spanish peanuts and corn nuts for the entire class. The planetarium budget will allow me to provide the planets for the scale-model solar system walk, but not to feed your class. The motion of the planets relative to the fixed stars and their retrograde loops with respect to the fixed stars can be easily demonstrated in the planetarium; true understanding of this motion for third graders is probably too much to expect, but they should be exposed to the wonder of it. Introducing a little vocabulary, like "retrograde motion of the superior planets" is certainly harmless as long as pressure for understanding is not expected. Another county instruction objective is "construct a sun-earth-moon model and explain the phases of the moon." White styrofoam balls on a stick are in the planetarium now for use as moons. A student's head plays the role of the earth, and the incandescent light bulb is the sun. Full moon rises in the east when the sun sets in the west. New moon rises and sets with the sun. Waxing moon is up before the sun sets with the lighted side pointing to where the sun is at. Waning moon rises after the sun has set with the lighted side pointing to where the sun will rise. This ditty is more for the teachers' benefit than the students' at this age, except for the gifted students.

Fourth Grade: Star Navigators

Universe in change: "Determine the relative position of objects in commonly used directional terms." The cardinal points of north, east, south, and west on the horizon of the planetarium will be used for this. It is also appropriate to introduce the north pole and how latitude is determined by it. The students can build an Arabic Kamal out of a 3x5 card, string, and knot for the latitude of Washington, D.C. This device also illustrates how simple some types of navigation by the stars are and clearly points out our cultures' great, but often overlooked, debt to the Arab world. Pointing out some of the many Arabic names that we have adopted for the bright stars should reinforce this lesson. Once the Kamal is made for the latitude of Washington, D.C., we can look at the simulated night sky from another latitude, and the students can use their Kamals to tell us whether to sail north or south to get back home, just like Sinbad the sailor on his dahomey. Another objective under "the universe in change" is to "Describe the relative motion of an object with respect to the position or motion of another object." This can be explained in the planetarium by showing the retrograde motion of the superior planets. This concept will be more likely to be intelligible if these students have seen the retrograde loops in the third grade during a previous planetarium visit. The fact that the sun itself goes around the disk of the Milky Way galaxy in about 250,000,000 years will be pointed out. The disk of the Milky Way, our own galaxy, is clearly visible in the planetarium.

Fifth Grade: Newton's Laws

Energy: "Demonstrate that any change in motion is caused by unbalanced forces" (Newton's second law), and "explain that the property of inertia makes objects remain at rest or continue in motion" (Newton's first law). Both concepts can be demonstrated in the planetarium. Gravity will be discussed as the force that causes weight and circular motion (instead of straight line motion) in a planetarium program for this grade. Matter: Molecules, atoms, and various chemical properties are discussed. At this point a song about the elemental composition of the universe could be taught to the class, as they are apt to have some appreciation for what some of the words really mean, such as hydrogen and helium.

Twinkle, Twinkle, little star.
Yes I know just what you are.
You're three-quarters hydrogen,
and one-quarter helium
with trace amounts of other things
from pink sea shells, to diamond rings.

My daughter could sing this song in kindergarten, but I suspect that she had no real grasp of what exactly hydrogen and helium were.

Sixth Grade: Star Light, spectra of stars

In the sixth grade students "investigate the sun and the stars and study the concept of electromagnetism." Some physics demonstration equipment will be in the planetarium for this: a gas discharge tube of hydrogen and another of helium with plastic diffraction gratings handed our to each student for viewing the unique discrete emission spectra of these ubiquitous elements. Diffraction gratings give a better dispersion of the spectrum, are easier to hold in the hand, and are cheaper than prisms (which produce spectra by refraction). Diffraction gratings also work using the wave aspect of electromagnetic radiation---although I am not sure that the average six grader can appreciate this subtlety (some college students seem to not truly appreciate this). Resinging the elemental composition of the universe song is not a bad idea. With the diffraction gratings, a continuous spectrum from a clear incandescent filament with low current will be cooler and predominately red in color, and with high current will be hotter and predominately blue in color. This a qualitative way of grasping Wien's law. This will partially help the students achieve the goal under "the universe in change," Demonstrate that the apparent brightness of stars is related to their size, distance, and temperature." Slides will be used to explain that distance diminishes the brightness of light by the inverse square law for point sources. The size of a star has a direct effect on its apparent brightness, which can be demonstrated by comparing Deneb, which is bright but very far away, to bright but very near stars in the summer triangle, such as Vega and Altair. Perhaps the students should be shown the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which is the heart of stellar astronomy. After all, if you understand this diagram, you can understand about half of everything that is said in a professional meeting of astronomers and astrophysicists. The H-R diagram as a unifying principle in astronomy is as important as natural selection is in the life sciences. Another sixth grade objective under "the universe in change" is to "Demonstrate a technique for sampling the number of stars in the sky." This is a planetarium activity taken directly from the Spitz manual and can be done quantitatively with round cardboard viewing tubes for each student. Newton's third law, which is sometimes so hard for students to grasp is also introduced in this grade under "the universe in change" objective "Demonstrate that in the movement of objects, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Gravity always gives rise to pairs of motion in the cosmos. Two other objectives that are best addressed in a planetarium in this grade are: (1) "Explain that the movement of the earth relative to the sun occurs in a regular and orderly manner" (yearly motion). It is appropriate to turn on the ecliptic coordinate system, something unique to a planetarium. (2) "Explain that the apparent movement of stars is a result of the rotation of the earth." The sixth grade curriculum is so rich in things that can best be done in a planetarium that several visits and detailed coordination with the classroom teacher would be very helpful.

Seventh Grade: Life in the Void

In the seventh grade the theme of the science program is life science. Three different hour-length programs are available for seventh graders with an emphasis on life science. Living in Space explores what humans have to do to adjust to weightlessness and the absence of air and a comfortable temperature. Protecting humans from too much radiation is also stressed. Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, SETI investigates how and why we are looking for alien intelligence in a vast and mostly empty universe. To search for extra-terrestrial intelligent life we are forced to think very critically about what sort of signals terrestrial intelligent life might send to the cosmos. Viking's Search for Life on Mars reviews our effort to see if microbial life exists in the soil of the red planet. This program forces us to examine the most basic properties of the simplest organisms and to think hard about the characteristics that distinguish living things from nonliving things.

Eighth Grade: Origin of the Solar System

In the Eighth grade the theme of the science program is the universe in change. One of the many objectives is to compare and contrast the theories governing the origin of the solar system. Every text book, even those written for college students and published this year, are vague and outdated on this topic. Since I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on star formation and am still actively doing research in this field, I can certainly remedy this situation. Some of prettiest regions in the sky are places where active star formation are occurring right now. We can not yet see planets around other stars, but we do see dust disks around many of the younger ones. This is a very dynamic subject in which gravitational energy is transformed into rotational energy. Students will see the difference between potential and kinetic energy and what difference this makes in understanding a real scientific problem. Many things about star and planet formation are still not understood, but many things are also clearly understood, at least in broad outline. Scientific visualization of isodensity surfaces and the evolution of rotational kinetic energy using hydrodynamics of self gravitating gas clouds is shown; some of this I did for my dissertation, some of this I am doing now, and some visualizations are the works of others.

Sun Earth Connection

In this program the intimate connection between the sun and the earth is stressed. The "Sun Earth Connection" is a major NASA theme for exploration of the Solar system now. Mission to Geospace.

Elementary School Programs from Mass mailing letter!

· Star Patterns for pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten;

· Sun Shadows for first grade;

· Sun-Earth-Moon Dance for grades second through fourth;

· Measure’s of the Solar System for third grade and above; Some alternate titles for this show are “Walk of the Planets,” “The Earth as a Peppercorn,” and “The Thousand Yard Model of the Solar System.” Obviously part of this program is done outside so children can see and experience the proportions in the solar system.

· Star Navigators for grades fourth and above; In this program children build a Kamal, an Arabian navigation device out of a 3 by 5 inch card and some string to find there way back to port like Simbad the sailor did on his Dahoy, lantern rigged sailing vessel.

· Star Light, Spectra of the Stars for fifth grade and above; Children will get to understand why stars have different colors and see continuos, discrete emission spectra from low pressure gases, and absorption spectra.

· The Sun our Star for third grade and above;

· African Skies for third grade and above. We sing the “Follow the Drinking Gourd Song,” and learn what it means and how it was used by escaping slaves, and how it can still be used today..

· Causes of the Seasons for grades five and above;

· Phases of the Moon, Phases of the Earth for grades four and above.

· Solar Eclipses for grades five and above.

Middle School Programs from Mass mailing letter!

· Measure’s of the Solar System for sixth grade and above; Some alternate titles for this show are “Walk of the Planets,” “The Earth as a Peppercorn,” and “The Thousand Yard Model of the Solar System.” Obviously part of this program is done outside so students can see and experience the proportions in the solar system.

· Star Navigators for grades sixth and above; In this program students build a Kamal, an Arabian navigation device out of a 3 by 5 inch card and some string to find there way back to port like Simbad the sailor did on his Dahoy, lantern rigged sailing vessel.

· Star Light, Spectra of the Stars for sixth grade and above; Students will get to understand why stars have different colors and see continuos, discrete emission spectra from low-pressure gases, and absorption spectra.

· Living in Space seventh grade and above.

· Solar Eclipses sixth grade and above;

· Solar Cycles requires the students to have some experience with graphs

· Solar Flares, HESSI, High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, seventh grade and above; This is an “Events Based Science” activity.

· Light Pollution, How Seeing the Stars Will Save You Money, seventh grade and above;

· African Skies for sixth grade and above; We sing the “Follow the Drinking Gourd Song,” and learn what it means and how it was used by escaping slaves, and how it can still be used today.

· Viking, pathfinder, and now Surveyor, Spacecraft’s on Mars, for seventh grade and above.

· Causes of the Seasons for grades six and above.

· The Whisper of Creation, “The Big Bang” can be adjusted for any level of sophistication.

· Black Holes, Gravity to the Max for grades eight and above.

· Phases of the Moon, Phases of the Earth for grades six and above.

· Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence grades seventh and above.

· When the Sky Falls grades seventh and above; Asteroids and comets hit the earth occasionally with sometimes-large effect. This is an “Events Based Science” activity.

How are Stars Born? For grades eight and above. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on 3-D hydrodynamic computer simulations of star forming regions. I must be an expert and alternate title could be Origins of the Solar System.

High School Programs from Mass mailing letter!

· Star Navigators for grades sixth and above; In this program students build a Kamal, an Arabian navigation device out of a 3 by 5 inch card and some string to find there way back to port like Sinbad the sailor did on his Dahoy, lantern rigged sailing vessel.

· Star Light, Spectra of the Stars for sixth grade and above; Students will get to understand how stars have different colors and see continuos spectra, discrete emission spectra from low pressure gases, and absorption spectra. We shall discuss the elemental composition of the universe, learn why hot stars are bluer and cool stars redder, and look at the absorption spectra of stars to determine their properties.

· Living in Space seventh grade and above.

· Solar Eclipses in general and the eclipse of 11 July 1991 and the eclipse of 26 February 1998 in particular are the subject of this talk and slide presentation.

· Solar Cycles requires the students to have some experience with graphs

· Solar Flares, HESSI, High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, seventh grade and above; This is an “Events Based Science” activity.

· Light Pollution, How Seeing the Stars Will Save You Money, seventh grade and above;

· African Skies for sixth grade and above; We sing the “Follow the Drinking Gourd Song,” and learn what it means and how it was used by escaping slaves, and how it can still be used today.

· Viking, Path Finder, and now Surveyor, Spacecraft’s on Mars, for seventh grade and above.

· Causes of the Seasons for grades six and above.

· The Whisper of Creation, “The Big Bang” can be adjusted for any level of sophistication. How the initial explosion creating the universe can be perceived in microwave frequencies.

· Black Holes, Gravity to the Max for grades eight and above.

· Creation of the Elements for chemistry classes. An explanation of how nucleosynthesis in stars created the elements in the universe out of hydrogen and helium which were created during the big bang. The iron in your blood was created in a supernova explosion.

· Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence grades seventh and above.

· When the Sky Falls, grades seventh and above; Asteroids and comets hit the earth occasionally with sometimes large effect. This is an “Events Based Science” activity.

· Mesoamerican Observers of the Sky, central American cultural astronomy show “Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec astronomy”

· Splendors of the Universe: Eighty slides of the universe, starting with the sun and the planets, then moving to star-forming regions within our Galaxy, to galaxies outside of the Milky Way (our Galaxy), and finally to clusters of galaxies. Sixty of the slides are the most beautiful, correct-color photographs of astronomical objects that have ever been taken. All of these pictures are presented with relevant explanations as to their meaning and significance, with questions solicited from the audience as the talk progresses.

· Astrolabe Past, Present, and Future: An astrolabe was the most important astronomical instrument before the telescope was invented, and the most important astronomical calculator before the digital computer was invented. Geoffrey Chaucer of Canterbury Tales fame wrote the earliest work of science education in 1387, The Treatise of the Astrolabe, for his 10-year-old son Lewis. A Star Finder/plainsphere is a partially functioning astrolabe. A real astrolabe does what a plainsphere does and much more. Is it history or science?

· Is Most of the Universe Missing? What evidence do astronomers have that 90% of the universe is dark? This traveling talk requires that the audience be familiar with physics and algebra at the high school level. This is an ideal talk for high school physics classes after they have learned about circular motion with a radial acceleration of a = v^2/R and understand Newton's law of universal gravitation F=GMm/R^2. This is the only traveling talk that requires the audience to understand equations.

· How are Stars Born? For grades eight and above. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on 3-D hydrodynamic computer simulations of star forming regions. I must be an expert and alternate title could be Origins of the Solar System.

Senior Citizen Adult Programs from Mass mailing letter!

· Splendors of the Universe, some of the most beautiful image ever taken by a telescope. All of these pictures are presented with relevant explanations as to their meaning and significance, with questions solicited from the audience as the talk progresses.

· Solar Eclipses in general and the eclipse of 11 July 1991 and the eclipse of 26 February 1998 in particular is the subject of this show.

· When the Sky Falls, asteroids and comets hit the earth occasionally with sometimes large effect

· Solar Cycles, our sun is a slightly varying star

· Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

· Whisper or Creation the evidence for creation by a large explosion many billions of years ago sometimes called the “big bang.“

· Mesoamerican Observers of the Sky, central American cultural astronomy show “Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec astronomy.”

· Astrolabes an ancient model of the universe that you can hold in your hand that is a sky clock and calculator.

29 Planetarium program titles:

1. Star Patterns: Pre-K and K

Kindergarteners are directly addressed by planetarium programs, although concepts such as "near and far," "large and small," and similar comparisons certainly apply. Suggestions from imaginative teachers are welcome. However, many kindergarten children are afraid of the dark unless the number of hand-holding adults is at least one for two children. (Most first graders are not afraid of the dark if warned in advance.) If you have a kindergarten class that you would like to bring to the planetarium, please give me a call. Children at this age are very good at learning and recognizing patterns in the sky.

2. Sun Shadows: 1Grade

3. Sun-Earth-Moon Dance 2-4 Grade

4. Measure’s of the Solar System 3-14 Grade

“Walk of the Planets”

“The Earth as a Peppercorn”

“The thousand Yard Model of the Solar System”

5. Star Navigators 4-14 Grade

“Simbad the Sailor uses a Kamal to reach his destination”

6. Star Light, Spectra of Stars: 5-14 Grade

How the spectra and the color of stars reveal their properties. We shall look at the discrete emission spectra of hydrogen, helium, and neon gas discharge tubes by using hand-held diffraction gratings. We shall discuss the elemental composition of the universe, learn why hot stars are bluer and cool stars redder, and look at the absorption spectra of stars to determine their properties.

7. Living in Space 7-14 Grade

8. Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 7-14 Grade

9. Viking and Path Finder, Spacecraft’s on Mars 7-14 Grade

10. Origins of the Solar System 8-14 Grade

11. Is Most of the Universe Missing? H.S. and above Physics

What evidence do astronomers have that 90% of the universe is dark? This traveling talk requires that the audience be familiar with physics and algebra at the high school level. This is an ideal talk for high school physics classes after they have learned about circular motion with a radial acceleration of a = v^2/R and understand Newton's law of universal gravitation F=GMm/R^2. This is the only traveling talk that requires the audience to understand equations.

12. Creation of the Elements: H.S. and above Chemistry

This program is an explanation of how nucleosynthesis in stars created the elements in the universe out of hydrogen and helium which were created during the big bang. The iron in your blood was created in a supernova explosion.

13. The Whisper of Creation: 9-14 Grade

“The Big Bang”

The initial explosion creating the universe can be listened to in microwave frequencies. This program is suitable for all school age groups and has been delivered in Vacation Bible School as well as other school groups. The level can be adjusted for the audience for religious groups Genesis and Psalm will be used.

14. Astrolabes: Astronomy Classes that understand something about celestial coordinate systems

An astrolabe was the most important astronomical instrument before the telescope was invented, and the most important astronomical calculator before the digital computer was invented. Geoffrey Chaucer of Canterbury Tales fame wrote the earliest work of science education in 1387, The Treatise of the Astrolabe, for his 10-year-old son Lewis. A Star Finder/plainsphere is a partially functioning astrolabe. A real astrolabe does what a plainsphere does and much more. Is it history or science? http://Astrolabes.org is a URL that I own and is rated by http://Britannica.com as the best source of information on Astrolabes on the web.

15. Solar Eclipses: 5-14 Grade

Solar Eclipse in general and the eclipse of 11 July 1991 and the eclipse of 26 February 1998 in particular are the subject of this talk and slide presentation.

16. The Sun Our Star 3-7 Grade

17. Solar Cycles 8-14 Grade

18. Solar Flares, HESSI, High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, a spacecraft 7-14 Grade

19. Light Pollution, How Seeing the Stars Will Save You Money: 7-14 Grade

We can not see the Milky Way from the Washington Metro area anymore, but this spectacle could return. In fact, it can be done in such a way as to save millions of dollars-for towns, county, and state government-while putting more light on the ground where we humans need to see at night and in the spectral band (color) at which humans have our peak visual acuity. IDA, International Dark Sky Association, URL is http://www.darksky.org.

20. African Skies 3-14 Grade

“Follow the Drinking Gourd”

21. Black Holes, Gravity to the Max 8-14 Grade

22. When the Sky Falls: 7-14 Grade

“Death from Asteroids and Comets”

23. How are Stars Born? 8-14 Grade

24. The Causes of the Seasons: 5-14 Grade

25. Phases of the Moon, Phases of the Earth: 4-14 Grade

26. Splendors of the Universe: Adults

“The Astronomical Zoo”

Eighty slides of the universe, starting with the sun and the planets, then moving to star-forming regions within our Galaxy, to galaxies outside of the Milky Way (our Galaxy), and finally to clusters of galaxies. Sixty of the slides are the most beautiful, correct-color photographs of astronomical objects that have ever been taken. All of these pictures are presented with relevant explanations as to their meaning and significance, with questions solicited from the audience as the talk progresses.

27. Space-craft Tour of the Solar System: Adults

? Slides covering from the sun to the outer parts of the solar system.

28. Mesoamerican Observers of the Sky Hispanic show

“Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec

29. Chesapeake Bay Crater 35.5 ± 0.6 million years ago, when Washington, DC and Richmond VA were on the coast, an object hit the earth on the continental shelf in the Atlantic ocean, N 37° 17' W 76° 1', causing a crater 85 km in diameter. After sea level fell, this crater would help form the Chesapeake Bay. The impact site is now called the lower Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay Bolide: Modern consequences of an Ancient Cataclysm

All Grades Language Arts and Social Studies

The form of the constellations and the stories in the sky have English language arts and social studies significance. The most obvious detailed multiconstellation story is the story of Perseus, Andromeda, Cetus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, but there are actually stories about most of the other 88 constellations with the exception of Microscopium and Telescopium. There are also alternative constellation grouping and naming in other cultures. There is almost an endless source of folk tales. All that would be needed to complete the fantasy of telling stories outdoors underneath the night sky would be a simulated campfire. This will be done through an appeal to the students' imagination.

HOW DO I GET MY CLASS TO THE PLANETARIUM?

Now that you are excited about getting your class into the planetarium, this is how you do it: you call Harold Williams, the planetarium director of Montgomery College at Takoma Park/Silver Spring. My office phone is [240]-567-1463. We can then schedule a time and date. It costs no money. Of course, you have to arrange transportation to Montgomery College, Takoma Avenue and Fenton Street, Takoma Park, Maryland 20912-4197.
Directions to the planetarium. The planetarium has a conspicuous silver-colored domed roof and is loosely attached to Science South on Fenton Street. Group size is limited to 42 (the number of seats in the planetarium) per session. If two classes come together with 25 students in each class, then that is two sessions not one. If more than 42 persons come, plan to occupy one group while the other is in the planetarium. I hope to hear from you soon. The stars are the providence of all of mankind.

My list of Educational Resources in Astronomy.

Montgomery College's Planetarium home page.

web page by Dr. Harold Williams, created October 25, 2005 last edited 12:03AM on October 26, 2005.