In the night sky you'll discover there's more than meets the eye...
30 minutes, all ages
Telescopic observing is available after Friday evening shows, weather permitting. This is the perfect show to precede an evening's starwatch.
Binocular and telescope observing requires cultivation of the enjoyment of subtleties. What is it that makes so many people spend countless hours watching faint smudges hanging in space?
Most planetarium programs show excellent images of planets and galaxies, taken from spacecraft or big observatories. Then, when people look at the real thing through a telescope or binoculars, they're understandably dismayed that what they see "isn't like in the planetarium."
Yet photographs taken through low-power instruments still look like photographs, not like what someone actually sees with the naked eye. So artist Tim W. Kuzniar created original paintings depicting various planets and deep-sky objects as people can actually expect to see them using binoculars and four- or eight-inch telescopes. More Than Meets the Eye features that artwork, then compares the naked-eye views from your backyard (or the OBU oval drive) with observatory astrophotos and spacecraft images.
We briefly discuss the effects of atmospheric turbulence; that stars have different colors; and how only time exposures produce brilliant colors in galaxies and nebulae. The point is made that, although we don't see celestial objects in glorious color from our back yard, to know that a faint smudge is really a stellar city or a place where stars are born can spark the imagination, and make the search worthwhile.
Produced by Loch Ness Productions, More Than Meets the Eye features a professional soundtrack and numerous multi-media effects adapted to the OBU Planetarium's unique theater environment.
General public show times