Ever wonder?
Does it intrigue you enough to make you head to your nearest Planetarium and explore your sky? Were you ever curious about finding out whom you share your skyline with? Did you ever imagine how your sky looks through the eye of a powerful telescope which zooms in celestial bodies which are many light-years away?
My curiosity was evoked so I headed out to the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata.
I did see literature on space-exploration and did hear some intellectual voices preempt the Show content but the actual Space Show out-does all verbal and written descriptions. This picture is truly worth a thousand words and more.
Even before the show had begun, I must highlight the ambience that is created by the physical aspects of the planetarium which creates the right ambience and mood to explore, understand and enjoy the Space. It is 688-seater planetarium with directional seats which allows you to recline back and watch the full spectrum of the sky in 180 degrees-pan. Footsteps are muffled by the thick wall-to-wall carpets. The circular room was air-conditioned and dimly lit. all this heightened my anticipation of what’s to come….
The initially invisible hostess made her presence felt on the mike when she announced that the show would commence in 2 minutes. All piped-down and reclined back and gaped at the sky in silence as the light were turned down and the hostess introduced us to OUR SKY.
It was like nothing before. Simply awesome!!
I felt like an astronaut who drifted from his spaceship and was loosely floating around in space. The telescope zoomed in images of the stars and other space-rocks which were light-years away and magnified them on our concave screen. By the way, one ‘light year’ is a measurement of time wherein it represents the distance covered by light in one year. That’s zillions and zillions and zillion kilometres away! Whoever thought of that!
It so easy to get lost in space…..literally! And I was for those 45 minutes during the show.
The outcome?
Carl Zeiss Home telescope with a tripod…..in 1 year flat!
