My curiosity about what the skies hold started with an old pair of binoculars looking for imaginary “Man in the Moon” when I was a child. Montreal has a few gems like the Planetarium that intrigues the mind when it comes to answering the mysteries of space, time and whoever else might be out there. Maybe it would help if the location got more widely advertised for the variety of programs that they offer, instead of just being advertised on the internet and in the metro. The Planetarium offers the spectator a variety of informational programs to sit back; he can vicariously explore the skies. The themes can vary between seeing something classic like what the properties of the solar system are to something more contemporary regarding recent space exploration in space.
There is something for children as they can take a fantastic voyage to other solar systems and still learn how ours solar relates and how large our galaxy is. Yet I understand that our galaxy is among the small ones in the known universe. With Draco on a treasure hunt in the universe, kids have another way of finding out what some major constellations are.
I think seeing the new solar system is valuable to dispel old attitudes about the existence of comets that might crash into the planet on a regular basis. Seeing recent exploration can shed light on the true nature of planets like Mars and Pluto, the latter of which was recently rediscovered to be a big piece of ice. I am curious to how Mars is represented with work done since the famous planetary buggy sent back photos about ten years back.
Finally one is always captivated by the unsettling nature of the universe with its black holes out there that are ready to gobble up any matter that comes their way and then there is the generation of new stars and the destruction of older ones that gets the occasional mention in popular scientific journals like the National Geographic. I would like to see programs which can explain what planets are observable in the skies in relation to ours and when. If this is not enough for a complete show perhaps that can be added to something like a compilation of amateur UFO sightings have been recently made from various countries and reported on UTube and other on-line channels. I think there is enough amateur data out there that an industrious sky gazer can put together and release.
