Have you ever imagined what it would be like to have an adventure amongst the stars? Year 4 pupils at Stephenson Way Academy had that very opportunity when Durham University brought their portable planetarium to school last week. After eagerly crawling into the inflatable dome structure, children marvelled at the thousands of stars, planets and constellations that were projected onto the walls of the darkness within.
Following a fascinating chat about astronomy, pupils were able to spot several constellations of stars by their shapes. They also quickly recognised the North Star, (the only star in the sky that doesn’t move) and discovered that it has been used as a navigator for thousands of years. It was astounding to find out that stars aren’t white as they often appear, some are red (they’re the coldest) and some really hot stars are even blue.
As the session drew to a close, the children got to ask the visitors any questions that they had about space. There were oodles of interesting questions, such as, “What colour is gravity?” Everyone in Year 4 agreed that they thoroughly enjoyed this visitor experience and would like to offer a huge thanks to Durham University for offering us this amazing opportunity to learn more about the universe that we live in.
