Fulldome 'Black Holes' experience to highlight Astronomy Day April 21

Participants in Astronomy Day activities April 21 at the University of Nebraska State Museum will be able to travel to the mysterious objects called "Black Holes" in a "fulldome experience" that immerses the audience and surrounds them in sight and sound at the museum's Ralph Mueller Planetarium.

The fulldome planetarium show is only one of the full day of attractions and activities -- all having an astronomy or space theme -- scheduled at the museum in Morrill Hall, 14th and U streets on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus. The museum will be open for Astronomy Day activities from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Mueller Planetarium and the NU State Museum again are part of a group of planetariums, observatories and museums selected by Astronomy Magazine and Meade Telescopes Inc. to be sponsored locations. Each location is the site of a drawing for a Meade telescope valued at $300. Forms for the telescope drawing will be available at the front of the museum and you do not need to have purchased admission to be eligible. The drawing for the telescope will take place at 4:25 p.m. and you need not be present to win. Complete details of Astronomy Day are on the Astronomy Day Web site ( www.spacelaser.com/asday2007.html).

The Mueller Planetarium dome will become a giant curved screen for fulldome video technology in this special engagement of "Black Holes," a show created at the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City, Utah. This presentation is a 37-minute, visually stunning 3-D experience exploring the most mind-blowing phenomena in the universe. You can see fulldome April 21-22 only as part of tests of a domed spherical mirror projection system developed in Australia by Paul Bourke at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Mueller Planetarium coordinator Jack Dunn is Bourke's U.S. collaborator helping to introduce the "Sphemir" technique to U.S. planetariums. Dunn said it is hoped that Mueller Planetarium will soon have its own equipment to make fulldome projection a permanent feature of Mueller shows.

No one will be admitted to the planetarium once a feature has started and seating is limited to 80 people per show. Showtimes for "Black Holes" are 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. April 21 and 2, 3 and 4 p.m. April 22.

Admission to the NU State Museum is $5 for adults (19 and over), $3 for children (5-18 years, 4 and under are free), and $10 for families (up to two adults and children). There is an additional charge for planetarium shows ($2 for "Black Holes"). Parking is free. For more information, call (402) 472-2642.

CONTACT: Jack Dunn, Coordinator, Mueller Planetarium, (402) 472-2641