Space - the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Ball State University Planetarium. Its three-weekend mission: to show a live presentation of stars, to talk about the history of Mars and show pictures of possible life and terrain features - to boldly go where no planetarium has gone before.
No, this isn't some hostile takeover of a Star Trek episode; it's a trip to the Ball State Planetarium and its free presentation, The Mars Invasion.
If you've never been to a planetarium, I highly recommend it, but I don't think I'd recommend going to the Mars presentation unless you have nothing else to do.
I arrived about 15 minutes before the show, and the 70-seat room already was full. Children, adults and students waited to learn more about Mars. Unfortunately where I was sitting I was practically reading the PowerPoint presentation upside down. As if that weren't bad enough, members of a Boy Scout troop were talking the entire time, so it was hard to hear the moderator.
The show began with the Halloween 1938 Mercury Theatre presentation when a radio show claimed aliens had landed on a farm in New Jersey. This was interesting and showed how people had to use their imaginations to see what things were like before TVs came around. The listeners actually believed aliens had landed despite there being commercials.
After the radio clip the moderator gave a PowerPoint presentation about the history of Mars' discovery and the orbiters and landers the world has launched to the Red Planet from the Mariner 6 and 7 expeditions in 1969 to the most recent Phoenix Lander in 2008. He also showed some video clips taken of Mars from the telescope on top of the Cooper Science Complex. If it weren't cloudy that night, then after the presentation spectators could go on the roof and see stars and planets from the telescope themselves.
One of the most interesting aspects of the show was when the moderator explained the planet's temperature difference. He said he was 6 feet tall, and the difference between his feet and his head would be 40 degrees if he were on Mars. He also explained that scientists now have proof that flowing rivers and salty oceans were once on Mars.
Once The Mars Invasion finished, the lights dimmed, and it was so dark that you could barely see your hand in front of your face.
Stars covered the ceiling. The Milky Way stretched across the room. For city dwellers it would have been a magnificent sight. For country folk, such as the couple sitting next to me, whose son was with the Boy Scouts, it's what it looked like every night.
The moderator showed where various stars and constellations were but also explained something that boggles my mind. He pointed to where the star Vega was in the sky and explained that the light we see from Vega was 26 years old. That means the light the stars emits at one time reaches us 26 years later. Other stars he pointed to were 1,000 years or 100,000 years old. The light we see from the Sun is eight minutes old, he said.
This drew "wows" and "amazings" from the whole room.
When the presentation ended, and the lights turned on, I was slightly disappointed we couldn't see more stars, but I still had an enjoyable time. Again, if you have never been to a planetarium or are bored one evening it's definitely worth going at least once in your life.
The Mars Invasion plays again at 7:30 p.m. the next two weekends on Oct. 10, 11, 17 and 18.
NotesWhat: The Mars InvasionWhen: 7:30 p.m., Oct. 10, 11, 17 and 18Where: Ball State University PlanetariumCooper Physical Science Building Rm. 90Admission: Free to all ages, seating is limited
Amanda Getchel is a senior journalism major and writes "This and That" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
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