We are Astronomers

I travelled down to London this weekend for the annual general meeting for the British Association of Planetaria. It was held at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and it was a brilliant meeting. Reasons for why I’ll go into in another post as two years ago at a past meeting a group of BAP members decided to create a planetarium show called “We are astronomers”. Obviously the title resembles “She is an astronomer” and this was chosen on purpose as the show features female astronomers and what they do through their work. Its not only about female astronomers though, but its something I enjoyed watching for sure and it blew my socks off.  The guys behind the film are based at the National Space Centre who have set up their own creative company to produce planetarium shows and related media.

There is amazing imagery of particles colliding in accelerators, aurora displays, new instruments featured from the James Webb Telescope, and more, and I learnt a few things too while watching the show. I didn’t realise that many of the space based observatories are placed in orbits hundreds of miles away from Earth. Imagine the length of time it takes for all of that information to be transmitted from Earth to the Obervatory and back again.

particle collisions

It gives an interesting insight into also the public’s perception of astronomy. Members of the public were asked “what is an astronomer?” and one person came out with, “some one who goes into space”, so its interesting viewing just how many people do not know what an astronomer is or does.

I’m posting a few snapshots of the show here but there is a blog to go with the show and links to where you can find out where the show will be playing. Anyone interested in finding out if they can get hold of the show should definitely email NSC Creative to find out more!

MIRI Instrument on the JWST

James Webb Space Telescope