Tuesday’s planetarium show delights audiences

 

Tuesday night’s planetarium show at Mt. Hood, titled “Deep Sky Wonders,” took viewers on a journey to see all the night sky has to offer, including galaxies, planets and nebulas.

The night began with a slide show of still images of galaxies projected onto the planetarium dome that would later be further examined with the facility’s new digital software system.

Pat Hanrahan, planetarium director, showed viewers galaxies millions of light years away from Earth, starting with the Southern Pinwheel. This galaxy has pretty spiral arms coming out and has new stars forming within it.

Hanrahan went on to display the Lagoon Nebula, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the Horse Head Nebula with infrared view. The Red Spider nebula is one of the hottest known stars in the sky, he explained.

He showed the Hourglass Nebula, one of his favorites, that had some unusual collections of gas formed around it.

A particularly beautiful image, the Globular cluster, was displayed with exquisite detail. These clusters are unable to form into planets because there is not enough rock and metal around them, Hanrahan said.

He noted that big stars tend to get violent toward the end of their lives, such as the V838, which began shedding its outer layers in 2002. Eventually, the star will explode.

When a single star explodes within a galaxy, it can give off as much light as the entire galaxy, he said.

Hanrahan explained that Mars will reach opposition this year (will appear nearest to Earth and opposite the Sun, for best viewing quality) and showed Saturn with a close-up digital image, one that caught the rings “edge on” and made them nearly disappear.

One of the evening’s highlights was the view of the night sky at different times after the sun has set, which gave the audience a better view of the stunning Orion and Andromeda galaxies.

Per usual, the show concluded with the classic “Galaxy Song” and audience questions.

Mt. Hood’s planetarium shows last for about 45 minutes and are held the first Tuesday of each month, at 6 p.m., 7:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

They $2 for the general public, and are free for students and faculty.