Things To Do
Some fun experiments with your Star Gaze room
Star Gaze isn't just a background for your night time life. You can actively interact with your stars. Here's a couple of activities and experiments you can do to further enjoy your installation.
Learn your constellations (obvious)
Start with the constellations your installer showed you. Then, using a star chart or star finder (available from your installer or off the web), see if you can identify more. Learn how to "Star Hop" from one constellation to another using pointer stars or other clues to help you learn the relationships between them.
Compare with the real world
Challenge yourself to find those same relationships outside on some dark, starry night. Once you spot one familiar constellation, it can help you find many more.
Make up your own
You can't see what the ancients saw? No problem, make up your own constellations. Give them your own names and make up your own stories about them. You wouldn't be the first.
Learn more about astronomy
We have several good links on our Links page. Get star charts, the Astronomical Picture Of the Day (APOD) or find out where to look to see satellites fly over at night.
Learn about your eyes (the "Patch Experiment")
Here's a strange experiment I did one night to learn something about night adaptation. Try it.
Put a patch over one eye for about an hour before bed. Watch TV, use the computer or otherwise expose the unshielded eye to strong light. Use every means you have to give your stars a really good charge (bright lights, blacklights, etc.). Then, when you turn off the lights and uncover your eye, compare the difference in what you see through each eye.
There are lots of variables in your own eyes. How your eyes adjust to the darkness is actually different for the center of your vision than it is out of the corner of your eye. Look at these links:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/retina.html#c1
Time your stars
Start with a room that has been in the dark all day. Flip the lights on for a short, measured amount of time. See how well your stars glow. Try it with different kinds of light. (Refrigerator lights, big halogens, blacklights) Find out what works best. See if charging them for a long time increases the length of time they glow. The kids could make it into a science experiment. Combine it with the Eye Patch experiment above to make sure your observations aren't affected by the charging light stealing your night vision.
Learn Physics
Move the charging light around in the room. Put it deep into a corner and see how the distance from the light affects the brightness of the stars. for an explanation, see:
Interestingly enough, it is this same law that has the greatest effect on the magnitude (brightness) of the stars in the real world. Our Sun is only a medium sized star, but it is clearly the brightest. That is only because it is so close to us. Many of the stars outside are much bigger, but not as bright because they are so far away. You can't actually determine the size of a star by it's brightness alone. In fact, several of the planets (Venus, Jupiter, Saturn) seem brighter that most stars even though they are only reflecting sunlight. They're a whole lot closer than those stars.
Fall gently to sleep
OK, so this is what you do mostly with your stars. That's perfectly alright.
Let us know (feedback)
If you come up with any great ideas (ones we can safely publish on this website), drop us a note and let us know what you did. We'd love to print some new ideas. You can let us know on the feedback pages.
