Exciting science featured as RU Planetarium re-opens
The RU Planetarium's Spring 2014 marquee features two thrilling science adventures.
Through Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the RU Planetarium, in Curie Hall in 43, will be showing "Impact Earth."
According to Planetarium Director Rhett Herman, "Impact Earth" is about meteors, meteorites, asteroids, and comets with results of recent NASA missions."Impact Earth" explores the dangers flying space objects can pose to life on Earth and shows the effects of collisions like the Chixulub and Tunguska events and the Pallasite impact that resulted in the Brenham meteorite fall. "Impact Earth" follows asteroid hunters who seek new objects in the solar system and how ground penetrating radar is used to find meteorites that have survived to the Earth's surface. Narrated by astronaut Tom Jones, the film explores the ways humans might try to deflect an asteroid or comet that is on a collision course with Earth.
The RU Planetarium children's shows at 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays will feature "Dinosaur Prophecy." Through Saturday, Feb. 8, "Dinosaur Prophecy" is a detective story of four famous cold cases from the age of the dinosaur. In a family-friendly way, viewers will see how many individual species simply disappeared long before the dinosaurs' massive extinction 65 million years ago. Viewers will visit dinosaur graveyards for a study of dinosaur bones and reconstruct how these creatures lived and died.
All RU Planetarium shows are free and open to the public. The planetarium is located in Curie Hall 43, on the ground floor, or basement, of Curie Hall. Due to the construction of the new Center for the Sciences, enter through the campus-facing entrance to Reed Hall.
For more information on the RU Planetarium and its features, visit the RU planetarium website or email Herman at rherman@radford.edu.