Astronomy Day (April 21, 2007)

Though e.e. cummings once said, "Listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go" (One Times One), it's not that easy for most of us. Since we seem to be stuck here, why not learn a bit more about our universe? The Ball State University Planetarium is having the last of its Visitor's Guide to the Universe (For the Cosmically Challenged) sessions on Celestial Hotspots to Visit this Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21.

Or how about starting with some interesting resources from Ball State University Libraries?

• Models, Other 3-D Materials, and Kits


• Milky Way Galaxy Model


• Space Shuttle (model)


• Constellation Station: a Nova Science Game


• Puppet Playmates: Space Explorers


• Globes


• DVD & VHS (Features)


• Fritz Lang's 1929 silent film The Woman in the Moon: By Rocket to the Moon


• Star Trek


• Arthur C. Clark's 2001: A Space Odyssey (directed by Stanley Kubrick) and 2010: The Year We Make Contact


• The Right Stuff, based on Tom Wolfe's novel about the U.S. astronauts and Project Mercury


• DVD & VHS (Documentary & Educational)


• The Standard Deviants' The Really Big World of Astronomy provides a light-hearted introduction


• Nova's The Elegant Universe


• Nova's Welcome to Mars and Mars: Dead or Alive document the missions of Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity


• Reach for the Stars is a talk by astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, at Ball State's UniverCity 2002


• Black Sky: The Race for Space follows Burt Rutan on his quest to build a personal spacecraft and capture the elusive X Prize


• Galileo: The Challenge of Reason shows the experiments of Galileo and dramatizes the conflict between his new scientific thinking and the authority of the Catholic church.


• Non-Fiction Audio


• Man in Space: The Story of the Journey: A Documentary is about the first American spaceflight, Alan Shepard's 15-minute, suborbital journey in a Mercury capsule on May 5, 1961.


• Storyteller Jim Weiss' Galileo and the Stargazers


• The audiobook of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time (although you might rather get the book it you don't want to rewind a lot)


• Software


• Starry Night: Constellation Adventure, a CD-ROM that enables armchair stargazers to explore star clusters, constellations, planets, galaxies, and other astronomical phenomena in the night sky based on home location and time.


• Pictures & Posters



• Activity Cards

...and we even have telescopes available for check out for your next night of star-gazing!

PS Kevin at the Science-Health Science Library also has a nice post on his blog about some resources for would-be star-gazers.