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Sirius Stargazers Astronomy Shows

Sirius Stargazers loves to share their knowledge of the stars, planets, space missions, and just about anything else that has to do with astronomy with educators and their students. With this in mind we have created and are currently creating several enrichment programs to present at Michigan & Ohio schools. These programs will help to expand your benchmarks and will provide a lot of fun for your kids. If your school is interested in having us come out for a day of fun with your kids please contact us for more information.

Shows available

Program 1:

Destination Saturn: We present the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn from the inception of the program right up to the current news the day of the presentation. We will come to your school and through the use of a powerpoint presentation teach your kids super cool facts about the mission. We will discuss Galileo, Huygens, Cassini, the rockets used during the launch, and gravity assists needed to get the satellite safely to Saturn. We will talk about Jupiter and it's closest moon, Io, Saturn's rings, storms on Saturn, it's shepherd moons and amazing facts about many of it's moons. During the presentation we will have question and answer discussions & giveaways.

Giveaways during each presentation include:

1 Atlas of the Universe, 3 astronomy books with different titles, 3 - 18"x24" laminated posters of either the solar system, the constellations, the moon, or the sun (the kids get to choose), book markers from the Saturn Observation Campaign, Astronomy Magazine fact brochures packed with over 500 facts & a fruit powered clock per each class.

1 Telescope will be given away as a grand prize.

** As an added bonus, we will also provide viewing in the evening using either our 14" Meade LX200 or our 20" Obsession reflector depending on the weather and the time of year. During the viewing session your kids and their parents will get to see globular clusters, the moon (if it's visible during the evening), planets (if they are visible during the evening), double stars, star clusters and any other significant objects that are visible depending on the time of year. We use about $15,000 in optical equipment.

Program 2:

200 Sirius-ly Super Facts about the Universe: In this program we will present a 50 minute powerpoint presentation about 200 amazing facts about our solar system and the universe. We have found that kids and faculty alike are amazed at the new insights they gain from this program. This presentation blasts through the cool trivia at the right pace to keep everyone asking for more. Each fun fact is is provided with some of the most beautiful, high resolution images ever taken. Your kids will blast through facts like,

The brightest comet of the past 25 years, Hale-Bopp wowed observers in 1997. It had a nucleus 25 miles wide and a tail that stretched more than 100 million miles!

To shine as brightly as it does and nourish life on Earth, the Sun must convert 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second!

Stunned astronomers described the greatest cosmic explosion ever monitored - a star burst from the other side of the galaxy that was briefly brighter than the full Moon and swamped satellites and telescopes. The high-radiation flash last December 27, caused no harm to Earth but would have literally fried the planet had it occurred within a few light years of home. The object called a Magnetar, which is only 12 miles across and on the other side of our galaxy (50,000 light years distant) released more energy in 1/10th of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years! It spewed out about 100,000 trillion, trillion watts!

Jupiter is so big that it would take 11 Earths wedged side by side to cross the giant's girth and more than 1,000 earths to fill its volume!

Sunlight takes just 8 minutes to reach Earth but more than 4 hours to cross the void to Pluto!

Uranus' Bland Cloudtops mask the fact that its rotation axis lies in it's orbital plane, so night and day at the poles last 40 years each!

Io acts as an electrical generator as it moves through Jupiter's magnetic field, developing 400,000 volts across it's diamter and generating an electric current of 3 million amperes that flows along the magnetic field to the planet's ionosphere. Because of this Io generates more electricity than all of the power plants in the United States combined!

Giveaways during each presentation include:

1 Telescope will be given away as a grand prize.

Program 3:

Siriusly Beautiful Images of the Universe:

In this program students will learn about and view over 100 of the most beautiful images ever taken of the universe. Children need to know that unlimited beauty exists outside the home we call our Solar System. Through a fantastic 50 minute presentation they will learn about and see beautiful images of planetary nebulae, spiral galaxies, globular clusters, neutron stars, dark matter, double stars, supernovae, meteor showers, stunning images of the sun, the planets, and their moons, open clusters, emission nebulae, solar prominences, eclipses, elliptical galaxies, and breath-taking images like -

the Cat's Eye Nebulae. the Elephant Trunk Nebulae

and many more!

Giveaways during each presentation include:

1 Telescope will be given away as a grand prize.

We are creating and will have many new programs before the end of 2005. If you are an educator and have a suggestion for a program please send us a line. .

Future programs include:

An exploration of the Solar System.

Newton's Laws of Planetary motion, a qualitative approach.

The Galileo mission to Jupiter.

Man-made satellites and their impact on the exploration of the Solar System.

The worlds great telescopes from Stonehenge to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The most famous astronomers & cosmologists of the past 200 years.

Comets & Asteroids. The possibility of a near earth impact.

We are also working on programs to complement the benchmarks established by the Department of Education.

Plan on seeing 1 hour programs that will:

Compare the earth to other planets and moons in terms of supporting life including surface conditions - gravity, atmospheres, & temperature. Relative distances & relative sizes will also be discussed. How the Sun produces the light and heat for each planet. Molecules that are necessary to support life - weather, oxygen, nitrogen, & carbon will be included. Real world contexts including examples of local and extreme conditions on earth vs. conditions on other planets; exploration of planets and their satellites.

Descriptions, comparisons, and explanations of the motions of solar system objects including orbit, rotation (spin), axis, gravity, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, & the seasons. The tilt of the earth on it's axis, direct/indirect rays will also be discussed.

Observations of comet motion over days and weeks, length of day and year on planets, changes in length of daylight and height of sun in the sky; changes in daily temperature patterns; summer and winter solstices, spring and fall equinoxes will also be discussed.

Description and explanation of common observations of the night skies including perceived and actual movement of the moon and planets across the sky, moon phases, eclipses, stars and constellations, planets, Milky Way, comets, comet tails, & meteors. The Sun as the light source for all solar system objects (except meteors; friction with atmosphere), emitted light & reflected light are included.

Outdoor observing of the skies, using telescopes including our 14" LX200 SCT and our 20" Obsession reflector, "naked-eye" viewing', viewing with robotic telescopes via the WWW, telescopic and spacecraft-based photos of planets, the moon, and comets. News reports of planetary and lunar exploration will also be included.

If you are an educator and are interested in learning more about this program, please contact us for more information.

more subjects coming soon....

Call or send an email for rates and more information. You will need to schedule your event at least 2 weeks prior to the event. The spring is very busy so the faster you contact us the more likely you will get your requested date.