Amid the Homecoming bustle this weekend, students and families can take some time to learn more about our neighbors millions of miles away.

The ISU planetarium will open its doors to the public for a free show followed by stargazing with telescopes on the observation deck, weather permitting. The show will also feature graduate students’ presentations on topics that interest them and the public.

Charles Kerton, assistant professor in physics and astronomy, said that the planetarium is using the show as a pitch to the community.

“It’s not meant to be another class or recitation section. It’s a chance for the general public to learn about what can be seen in the night sky, like a little bit about constellations and brighter stars,” Kerton said. “It’s a little bit about what can be seen in winter in the Iowa sky and throughout the year.”

Michelle Hartwell, graduate student in physics and astronomy and one of the show’s presenters, said that the event is a good way for the community to get an inside view of what astronomers do and what happens in the sky.

“Very few people can name one star by its proper name,” Hartwell said, “and by giving the show, it allows people to get insight for astronomy and what it means to get an understanding of things beyond their own neighborhood – way beyond their own neighborhood.”

Hartwell said besides constellations, people will also be able to learn about specific sky objects and points of light in the sky. With the telescopes they will be able to see more “treasures” of the sky, such as nebulae, stellar nurseries and star cities that are millions of miles away.

“There is a plethora of things to behold and cool things to find in the nighttime sky,” Hartwell said.

Since what’s visible in the sky depends on latitudinal position, what makes this show unique is that audience members will be able to see what is unique to Iowa’s night sky, such as the Big Dipper. They’ll see stars that can’t be seen in the southern hemisphere of Earth.

“Coming into the winter is a nice time to start stargazing. There are lots of constellations that are easy to pick out in the sky since it’s dark early.” Kerton said. “There’s lots of bright light, and it’s easy to recognize stars in the sky like Orion. They might not even recognize they’re looking at Orion.”

Kerton and the graduate students are hoping to use this show as a good education program. They said they think it’ll be interesting to people to learn about something that’s around them and part of their environment.

“Why so many people like astronomy is an anthropological question, isn’t it?” said Kim Arvidsson, graduate student in physics and astronomy and a presenter.

Besides its educational value, astronomy is also an activity that is easy to get into. Kerton said he thinks another appeal of astronomy is that it’s unlike other sciences and doesn’t require a lot of equipment for people to see the same things that a professional scientist will see.

Hartwell said she thinks that its hand-on quality makes it a particularly informative and interesting activity because people will learn more by participating in it than by reading about it.

“Many of the elementary, high school and junior high schools don’t delve deep into this,” Hartwell said, “and it’s about sparking interest to help give [students] a broader range for what they might want to do when they grow up.”

Unfortunately for people interested in astrology, the planetarium won’t be educating on anything besides astronomy.

“Astrology is a superstition, pure and simple,” Arvidsson said. “It has no scientific value whatsoever. The claims made by astrology do not hold up when examined scientifically. Why some people still believe in it, I don’t know.”

Kerton and the students involved with the show said they hoped the public will come out to ask questions if they’re curious to learn more about the night sky. Since the planetarium is primarily used for classes, it’s a rare opportunity for the public to be able to take advantage of it, especially the three telescopes on the observation deck.

Hartwell said the planetarium is taking small steps to slowly build up its reputation and get an idea of how many people will attend the shows and what they want to learn.

Besides this weekend’s shows, there will also be two shows in November and December, and if they’re popular, more may be offered in the future.

“Even though it’s the Homecoming game this weekend, and many people are going to that,” Hartwell said, “this is also a good thing to come to for clean family entertainment, something to educate yourself and something you can take away for the rest of your life.”