The Friends of the David M. Brown Planetarium organization is planning a “Night at the Planetarium” fundraising event with young astronomy buffs in mind.
From 4:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 31, the Friends and the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club will be holding a marathon session of planetarium shows, to be followed by a chance to look at real stars through NOVAC’s telescopes.
The stargazing will take place outside the planetarium (1426 North Quincy Street). The County will shut off the lights at the nearby Washington-Lee High School track so the dark sky will be visible.
In addition to the shows and the stargazing, there will also be outdoor lessons and science activities throughout the event. The event is especially geared toward children, but all community members are welcome, the group says.
The Friends hope to collect donations of $5 from individuals and $10 from families. The money will go to the group’s effort to renovate the planetarium in order to save it from proposed school budget cuts.
So far the Friends have raised a total of $3,350 from 53 donors, well below the more than $400,000 they’ll need for the renovation. By a timetable set by Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Patrick Murphy, the group needs to raise $161,120 by September 31.
Related Posts
- Planetarium Nears Fundraising Deadline June 29, 2011
- Tonight: “Night at the Planetarium 3″ December 29, 2010
- Planetarium Boosters Plan Another Night of Shows September 27, 2010
- Planetarium Fundraising Underway, But Goals Are Daunting June 21, 2010
welcome to the wonderful world of the 1950s. weird.
The planetarium is part spherical. Just rename it “The Original Fartisphere” and then th CB will fund it.
re: “welcome to the wonderful world of the 1950s,” you may want to review some of the recent research in astronomy journals about the current relevancy of planetariums as an educational outreach tool for the sciences. (see below)
—
*Over 3,500 Facebook Fan Page Members Who Support Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium*
http://bit.ly/facebook-planetarium
*Online Petition That Collected 930 Signatures from Arlingtonians and People from around The U.S. and World:*
http://bit.ly/save-the-planetarium
*Report from Online Petition:*
http://www.saveplanetarium.org/images/petition_report_short_version.pdf
*Peer-Reviewed Journal Article on Efficacy of Planetariums as Teaching Tools (Conclusion: They Are Still an Excellent Teaching Tool):*
Meta-analysis of Planetarium Efficacy Research
2009, AER, 8 (1), 010108, 10.3847/AER2009033
Published 16 September 2009
http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=AERSCZ000008000001010108000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes
Raphael
“Friends of Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium”
http://www.saveplanetarium.org
save.the.planetarium@gmail.com
Also, one note. The stargazing will actually take place just outside the planetarium. The track lights being off will help with the overall light pollution.
[...] Producer Tara Boyle from WAMU 88.5 FM’s “Kojo Nnamdi Show,” Scott Brodbeck at ARLnow.com, Scott McCaffrey at the Sun Gazzette, and Heather Goss at DCist.com for helping to spread the word [...]