Astronomy Programs and Portable Planetariums

Most states include in their academic standards a unit on Astronomy, and this field makes for a wonderful avenue for school assembly programs. So when you are gathering elementary school assembly ideas, or middle school assembly ideas be sure to give some consideration to what is available in this area.

Though astronomy may be presented to kids in different ways, the most effective is through a visit to a planetarium. Sitting in the dark while the night sky unfurls in front of you is a magical experience! And kids love it! Sadly, most schools do not have access to a local brick and mortar planetarium. However, for some years there has been a traveling option that is available.

Years ago a company created a small portable planetarium which they called Starlab. This unit consisted of a small inflatable dome, able to accommodate about 30 students at a time, along with an analog star projector. Museums, libraries, school districts all rushed to purchase these cool units. You may have one in your district today. 

But there are drawbacks to most Starlabs. First, with a small capacity, they usually need to be in your school for several days in order to get all the students through. Second, you must have a qualified operator. Many districts no longer do and their domes sit and gather dust. Finally, there are limitations to the analog projector which is, essentially, composed of a canister of film dropped over a light. To move the night sky the operator gently manipulates the canister. To switch from the northern hemisphere to the southern the entire canister must be switched.

But thankfully, newer, and better alternatives exist. Programs such as The Sky Dome Planetarium

 now use state of the art digital star projectors capable of amazing, computer generated special effects, and offer much larger domes able to hold enough students that an entire school can view the program in a single day.

With these newer units, all of the benefits of a traditional planetarium may be enjoyed, without the headache and expense of arranging a field trip. 

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN