BC Planetarium
By Lisa Ybarra
I recently visited the Bakersfield College Planetarium and thought it was very interesting. They offer a variety of shows throughout the semester, but I recommend you plan your visit ahead of time because the shows sell out quickly. The show I went to was called “Earthquakes: Evidence of a Restless Planet.”
For the first half of the show, we were given a tour of the night sky. The Planetarium uses a projector called the GOTO Chronos star projector. The director talked about well-known constellations and showed us how we could find them ourselves in the night sky.
The second half of the show we watched the video “Earthquakes: Evidence of a Restless Planet” which is displayed on the whole dome using a Spitz SciDome projector. The video talked about earthquakes and how and why they occur. It also showed how our planet has changed over the past 200 million years. It ended by showing us how engineers and scientists are working to create better buildings that can withstand earthquakes. This is important for our future because if a big earthquake were to hit there would be less damage.
If you’re into science and space it is definitely a place you should visit. For tickets and more information about the Planetarium visit the BC website.
Photo from BC website