PASS Planetarium Activities for Student Success Strange Planets This show, first announced in the March issue of The Planetarian, is NOT a precorded/prerendered program for fulldome systems, but we do present the program here at LHS live with the fulldome system we have. It is designed as live audience participation program, about 50-minutes long, but is modular, and as such can be adjusted for shorter lengths. Current version is presented at LHS for public audiences, best for ages 8-adult. The show (50 min version) has the following sections: Introduction (5 min): Pose the context-setting questions: Are we alone? Do you think there might be other life out there? Hundreds of planets outside our solar system have already been discovered. Spectroscopic Method (10 min): Demo spectrum from a flashlight fitted with diffraction grating, then a star-planet demonstration/model of how gravity of an extrasolar planet causes a star to wobble, which in turn causes shifting spectral lines (the Doppler shift). How much a star wobbles depends on the mass of extrasolar planet(s) going around it and how fast a star wobbles is an indicator of how close it is to its star and hence how high its temperature is. Stars with Planets (5 min): Show two very easy-to-find stars with planets: Pollux (binary star in Gemini) and Alrai (orange star in Cepheus). Audience considers what it might be like to live on a "strange" planet, e.g. one with a binary star or an orange star. Kepler's Laws and Habitable Zones (5 min): Audience learns that a habitable planet is one that has temperature and conditions for liquid water; that planet orbits are oval or elliptical in shape (Kepler's 1st Law) and that how quickly a planet orbits its star depends on how close it is to its star, in accord with Kepler's 2nd and 3rd Laws. Transiting Planets (10 min): Use a 2-planet orrery, light sensor and graphing software to demonstrate how brightness changes can be used in finding extrasolar planets--observing transits where a planet periodically blocks starlight, even though the planet is not visible. The audience sees the size of a planet is directly related to that amount of starlight it blocks and that how often starlight is blocked is related to how close a planet is to its star, thereby inferring the planet temperature and habitability. Finding an Earth-like Exoplanet (10 min): Audience studies simulated light curves to find pattern of an Earth-size in the habitable zone of its star. Kepler Star Field/Conclusion (5 min): Conclude with more specifics about the NASA Kepler Mission, including where in the sky its target regions of study is. Strange Planets was field-tested at 5 planetariums and the final version revised based on field-test feedback. Show kit includes: CD-ROM with a script book (PDF), all still images, and movies needed (in electronic format) Rainbow projector (diffraction grating mounted on a flashlight). Star-planet models. ---One-planet model to demonstrate wobbling motion of a star. ---Two-planet orrery (geared, hand-cranked). Light Sensor with computer interface and graphing software (Mac or PC). User must supply needed laptop, and video projector for projecting real-time light curves on the dome. The NASA Kepler EPO team at Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) and SETI Institute has been in collaboration with NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) and the Pacific Science Center (PSC) to produce this audience-participation planetarium show. This show on DVD will be available for purchase through Sky-Skan.

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