The Starlab inflatable planetarium.	Steven Longmore, inside the Starlab, explaining the night sky to high school students.

This year, as a break from intensive computer programming, Cormac Purcell and Steven Longmore, PhD students from the Department of Astrophysics, visited two high schools with the Starlab inflatable planetarium. Here is an account of one such visit:

A large crowd of curious 12-17 year olds gathered as we began to inflate the silvery canvas dome. Questions ranged from ‘Is it a bouncy castle?’ to ‘Will it take off?’ We assured them neither. It resembled nothing so much as a flying saucer squatting in the basketball court.

We had an hour to impart a wonder of the heavens to 30 excited teenagers squeezed into 5-m diameter circle. Dimming the lights brought some squeals from the more nervous, but these soon turned into gasps as we ‘turned on’ the night sky. If only we had such power in the real world! The most difficult part of astronomy is grasping the scale of the Universe. Steve brought it all down to earth using ping-pong balls and peanuts. I continued with a description of the life cycle of stars. Impressively, as soon as I asked which was our nearest star I was immediately told ‘The Sun’. No fooling this lot.

We touched on the lighter side of astronomy and told the story of Orion fighting Scorpio and why Corvus the crow was cast into the heavens for losing Crater, the cup of Zeus.

Of course there was some practical lessons on how to find your way home from the pub, by finding south using the Southern Cross.

Speaking from experience there is nothing as rewarding as talking to a group of enthusiastic young people about a subject you love. I encourage everyone to try it.

Cormac Purcell