A mobile planetarium in the school campus

During a summer trip to Rome in the late ’80s, I was introduced to a good-looking Italian scientist whose forte was astronomy.  

He monopolized me during the entire dinner party and talked to me non-stop about the galaxy and the interesting celestial bodies roaming the universe. If he were not a Paul Newman look-alike with the clearest pair of blue eyes I have seen in a human being, I would have walked away from sheer, utter boredom. 

But there was something interesting in his passion for astronomy that I stayed on to listen, even if I was just pretending to be scientifically inclined which I was not. At the end of the evening I found myself accepting an invitation to go stargazing with him the next evening. He took me on top of one of the hills of Rome, where he set up his powerful telescope on a tripod. He explained that his telescope has a large aperture that enables us to view deep sky objects such as galaxies, nebulae and other star clusters far beyond the solar system. That was my first and last introduction to stargazing because at the end of the evening we were more interested in seeing the stars in each other’s eyes than the stars in the sky.  

Students interact with an astronomer in a live discussion on the mysteries of the cosmos.

A few days ago, an invitation to view a mobile planetarium brought back pleasant memories of my stargazing experience on a romantic hilltop in Rome. Nikki Coseteng, a dynamic senator from 1991 to 2001, and who now runs her own school, Diliman Preparatory School on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, invited me to her school to talk about her new project, which is called DPS (Discover and Probe the Sky) Astronomy Center. It is a complete resource for astronomy education in the Philippines. It features educational exhibits, services and equipment to enhance the study of astronomy and inspire young people to be future scientists. The center owns the country’s first and only digital portable planetarium. The educator that she is, Coseteng explained that a planetarium is an ideal fun environment for children and adults to learn about the earth and our place in the solar system. Interactive shows encourage the students to participate and ask questions. All presentations are exciting and stimulating, informative and memorable, including a tour of the night sky and main constellations. The planetarium is available for hire and is visiting schools nationwide. Every school can now avoid the headache and expense of organizing a field trip to an offsite planetarium. Students experience and enjoy the use of this valuable teaching resource at a minimal cost. Coseteng’s advocacy is to encourage astronomy awareness and encourage young minds to be curious about the marvels of the universe. Because I could not quite visualize the concept, she showed me photos but it was better for me to see the actual mobile planetarium. So together with her business partner, Armand Raquel Santos, we went to Lagro Public School, which booked the planetarium that day. The seven-meter in diameter dome was right smack in the middle of the big Lagro campus. The students who were scheduled to view the planetarium that day were inside a classroom to an Ask-an-Astronomer live discussion. The astronomer that day was Edmund Rosales, who used to be a faculty member at UP-NISMED (National Institute of Science and Math Educational Development). It was interesting to note the students’ interest in astronomy. After the live forum, we went to the digital mobile planetarium. Using a Digitarium Gamma Portable digital planetarium system, designed for use in portable domes, astronomer Rosales showed us how the sky looks like from other places on earth and from the surface of other planets; zoom in to planets, star clusters, nebulas and galaxies and how the sky looks like on the day of your birth. He also showed astronomical coordinate systems, both equatorial and horizontal, constellation artwork from other cultures, and showed whatever selected object in the sky the students chose. What I did not learn in the hilltops of Rome, I learned in this mobile planetarium thru astronomer Rosales. It was an afternoon well spent which opened my understanding on why the study of astronomy is as old as civilization itself.

Students line up to enter the digital planetarium which is a simulated display of the day and night time sky and celestial objects. It engages the students in a personal sense of wonder and discovery in a unique digital environment.

“Everyone should realize the impact of astronomy and other fundamental sciences on our daily lives and understand how scientific knowledge contribute to a more equitable and peaceful society,” according to the International Astronomical Union.

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For inquiries, call Ayen Terry, marketing administrator at 0918-4449993, 0917-5228228, e-mail-skyxplore@gmail.com, or visit www.skyxplore.com.