43
Dobbins students study the stars
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Mobile Ed Productions host Derek McDonald (right) taught a group of Dobbins third-graders about the ins and outs of the Sky Dome before they entered and took a tour through the stars.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Third-grade pals Haley Trolio (left), Halle Sebest, and Molly Malmer looked excited to start exploring the skies inside the Mobile Ed Sky Dome on Jan. 20.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Dobbins third-graders smiled after taking a trip through the stars in the Mobile Ed Productions Sky Dome on Jan. 20.
By SARAH FOOR
When Dobbins students arrive at school each morning, they usually stream into their all-purpose room before heading to their classes.
But on the morning of Jan. 20, they skipped their usual morning meeting place because the space was dwarfed by a giant silver dome.
“When the students saw the Mobile Ed Sky Dome this morning, an amazing amount of excitement for the program started immediately,” said Dobbins principal Cheryl Borovitcky.
Mobile Ed host Derek McDonald welcomed each grade to the mobile planetarium and had them enter the Sky Dome by climbing through a cavern on their hands and knees. Inside the dome, all eyes were looking up to the sky.
McDonald offered students a tour through our solar system, stopping at all the planets, pointing out interesting aspects of each planet with a laser pointer.
For example, the host said Earth could fit inside Jupiter 11 times, and Earth could even fit into Jupiter’s famous big red spot three times alone.
The host then filled the dome with a visual of the night sky and said the first astronomers were completely without technology.
“The first astronomers weren’t much different than you on any given night – all they did was look up and start to wonder,” McDonald said.
McDonald connected the dots to make constellations and told students the Greek myths that accompany many of the collections of stars.
To end the event, the host showed the students how the night sky would look in Poland at 10 p.m. that night and encouraged the students to go outside that evening and look in the sky.