By Lorelei Murphree
The planetarium interns go above and beyond to create memorable and fascinating shows for Samford students.
On March 31 and April 1, the planetarium presented an insightful show called “Beyond the Telescope – Women’s Journey in Astronomy.”
The show was about women who made impressive contributions to the advancement of astronomy.
Senior Dawson Lee did a presentation on Jill Tarter, who investigated if there are other habitable planets in outer space that we could possibly live on. Planets in the habitable zone or the ‘Goldilocks zone’ are located where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface.
“The movie ‘Contact’ gave me the idea for my presentation,” said Lee. “In the movie, Jill Tarter is trying to find out if extraterrestrials are real or not. The movie is completely fictional, but it helped me understand her work.”
The other presenters in the show were freshman Emma McCloud and Professor Olive. According to Lee, each presenter did roughly 12 hours of research. Each show is typically an hour long, and each person presents their section for at least 15 minutes, and then the audience asks questions at the end.
“I enjoyed doing the research a lot, but my favorite part was watching and editing the video for the show,” Lee said.
Lee also has a miniature business for online video production on the side because he is passionate about editing videos and has experience with all Adobe products.
Another planetarium intern, Ariana Allgood, helped the other presenters prepare this week, but she has presented at other shows as well. The main jobs of the planetarium interns are to do research and present shows, but they also ensure that everything looks good and that the lights and audio are working properly to avoid technical difficulties.
The first show on Friday drew about a dozen people, and the Saturday show had a turnout of about thirty people. Each show had approximately 40-60 people attend.
Last week, the planetarium partnered with the UAB Astronomy Club because UAB does not have a planetarium. Collaborating helps the students to communicate and learn from each other about different ways to do shows.
Their most popular show, “The Star of Bethlehem,” was almost a full house. Most shows do not require tickets. However, for more popular shows, the planetarium allows anyone to reserve a spot through their Facebook page, “Christenberry Planetarium at Samford University.”
The planetarium offers free shows for students once a week to once every two weeks. Some of the shows do cost money, but most of them are free. Also, Professor Olive, the director of the Christenberry Planetarium sends out emails to students whenever they have a show. The planetarium is located behind Reid Chapel right beside Propst Hall and is a must-see for all Samford students.
