Beginning June 5, 2010 at 6:45 p.m., “Gateway to the Stars”  will highlight some of the most prominent objects in the night sky each month, using them as examples to teach observing techniques that will help maximize the stargazing experience.

Audiences will learn to navigate using basic techniques involved in stargazing and finding their way around the night sky by becoming familiarized with stars and constellations, planets and other galactic objects visible to the naked eye. Viewers will also learn to explore deep sky objects like double stars, star clusters, nebulas and galaxies to gain insight and perspective on the different components of our universe.

This innovative and interactive experience combines the most recent technology, space imagery and current night sky information to give viewers a truly out of this world experience.  “Gateway to the Stars” begins on Saturday, June 5, at 6:45 p.m.

Tickets for the lecture series are free for Clark Planetarium members. Tickets for the general public are just $1 each or $2 0nline. “Gateway to the Stars” will be featured the first Saturday of every month in the Hansen Dome Theatre at 6:45 p.m.  Additional information and tickets can be found online.

Our new Summer Science Adventure Camps give kids hands-on training that will inspire teamwork, creativity and innovation.  Campers  will be challenged to see the world differently whether it is looking at something a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, or larger than galaxies in the universe.  The three day camp experience will be jam packed with activities, games, and fun filled experiences that you will cherish for years to come.

Clark Planetarium

What will be offered?

Adventure begins with Clark Planetarium’s Space Adventure Workshop.  Campers will be familiarized with astronomy, rocket propulsion and planetary exploration.  Campers will also participate in the Great Balloon Rocket Race, build launch straw rockets and leave with their own UV detection bracelet.  Then, the adventure continues at Discovery Gateway where campers will become official Discovery Gateway Curious Science Investigators.  As a CSI, kids investigate the basics of chemistry, learn to ask scientific questions and conduct their own scientific experiments.  Campers will learn the mysteries of M & M’s, identify colorful crystals and experiment with chemical change.

Discovery Gateway

What your child will take home:

• Summer Science Adventure T-shirt
• UV bracelet
• Straw rocket and Bernoulli blower
• Science in Action Lab worksheets
• “Let’s review” sheets
• “Think about it” take home sheets
• CSI lab folder and pen
• Certificate of completion

Why are we different?

1. We have fun down to a science.  We strive to promote education in a fun and entertaining environment.  With the partnership of Clark Planetarium and Discovery Gateway Children’s museum your children will get to explore over 50,000 square feet of exhibit space.

2. We are exclusive.  We only allow 20 participants per camp session to provide our campers with as much one-on-one attention as possible.

3. Our education staff loves what they are teaching.  Our camp activities are planned, conducted, and supervised by veteran educators trained in space and science education.

When?

Camps are being held June 29 – July 1, 2010 (3-4 grades) and July 13 – July 15, 2010 (5-6 grades).  Sessions will be from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Where?

• Morning drop off (8:30 am):  Clark Planetarium.  110 S. 400 W. SLC UT
• Afternoon pick up (4:30 pm):  Across the street at Discovery Gateway 100 S. 444 W. SLC UT

Cost?

$195 per session (15% discount for members of Clark Planetarium or Discovery Gateway).

To register call 801.456.4979

A detailed look at the evil pirate ship in Attack of the Space Pirates

Attack of the Space Pirates is that show.  It’s a 35-minute feature designed to keep children and adults engaged and entertained as they experience a wild ride through the galaxy on a journey with all of the great sci-fi story elements: mystery, conflict, intrigue, fun, ingenuity, battle, hope and discovery.  It’s our most ambitious digital dome cinema project to date, including amazing sound effects by George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound.

Join the crew of the Starship Intrepid and travel through hyperspace to visit real destinations. You’ll encounter supergiant stars, rogue planets, a black hole and more in your quest to find and assemble a wormhole generator. On your journey, you’ll use real science to help solve the numerous challenges thrown your way. If you survive the dangers of space, a band of pirates will be waiting to take what is yours.  You’ve never experienced an immersive adventure like this!

Bring your family with showings daily.  Visit our website for  more details, the show trailer and show times!

“If the speed of light is the highest attainable speed, why can’t it escape a black hole?”

First, a few words about the speed of light, which is indeed the fastest speed attainable through space.  How fast is it?

The speed of light: It's not just an engineering challenge - it's the law.

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second.  That works out to about 186,000 miles per second.

Trying to go at or faster than light through space requires inventing exotic new mathematics that permit real number answers to equations that involve division by zero and square roots of negative numbers. If you can figure out how to do this sort of math, a Nobel prize is yours for the asking.

The speed of light is more than just a zillion times faster than we’ve ever been able to achieve with our technology, it’s also a fundamental constraint on everything – both matter and energy – in the universe.

So if nothing is faster than light, than how can a black hole “trap” light?

Light is trapped in black holes because black holes bend space itself.

All objects with mass curve the space around them.  Objects with little mass, such the Earth and Moon, only curve space a tiny amount, while objects with the mass of stars curve space a lot more. For a really massive object, like a black hole, the curvature of space they create in their vicinity is so severe that space is wrapped completely around itself.

Here’s a way to create a model of a black hole:

Take a sheet of paper.  That’s the universe.  To keep things simple, let’s declare that this is a one-dimensional universe, in that objects within this universe all exist along a single mathematical line and they can move in one direction only – left and right along that line.  In this 1-d universe there is no such thing as moving up and down on the paper, nor can you be anywhere except on the paper.

A one-dimensional universe. Everything exists on a straight line.

To get from the left side of the paper (we’ll call that point “A”) to the right side of the paper (we’ll call that point “B”) you have to move in a straight line on the surface of the paper.

Without massive objects being present, the 1-d universe lies completely flat, and the shortest route (indeed, the only route) between A and B is along that flat straight line.  So far so good.  The shortest path between two points in flat universe is along a straight line.

But what if you introduce a massive object, like a star, into your 1-d universe?

The mass of the star bends space itself.  You, living on the paper in this simplified universe, don’t see this curvature because your line of sight can only follow the line through space.  Seen with the benefit of having extra dimensions (as you are when you hold the paper) you see a straight line traveling on a curved piece of paper. Is the line still straight?  YES.  It’s the space itself that’s curved.

The line from A to B really is straight, it just travels through curved space.

In this 1-d universe imagining a jump from A to B without following the straight line is the equivalent of imagining a science-fiction jump through “hyperspace.”

What if the object on the line of your paper is so massive that it curves space completely around on top of itself?  What if point B were inside the region where the curvature of space exceeds 360 degrees?

Then you’d have a black hole.  Traveling along a straight line from A to B (as you must in this 1-d universe) you’d encounter a place where space had wrapped around itself and once you enter this region, no matter how fast you go, even at the speed of light, you can never leave.

That’s a 1-d black hole.

Once inside a black hole, you can't ever leave no matter how fast you're going.

Now try imagining a point in space where space itself has been curved on top of itself in all dimensions – left-right, up-down, forward-backward, and time itself.

Black holes capture light (thus making them “black”) because light is trapped within a region of infinitely inward-curving space.

In a real-world Black Hole, space curves on top of itself in all dimensions.

The term “mind-bending” seems appropriate, don’t you think?