Poster

Communicating Astronomy through developing inhouse locally customized planetarium shows - Experience

Poster
Special topic: Astronomy Education Beyond the Classroom
5th Shaw-IAU Workshop
Wednesday Nov. 29, 2023
UTC: 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. America/New_York: 6 a.m.- 7:30 a.m.
, UTC: 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. America/New_York: 10:30 a.m.- noon
, UTC: 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. America/New_York: 12:30 p.m.- 2 p.m.
, UTC: 8 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. America/New_York: 3 p.m.- 4:30 p.m.
, Thursday Nov. 30, 2023
UTC: 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. America/New_York: 7:30 a.m.- 9 a.m.
, UTC: 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. America/New_York: 9:30 a.m.- 11 a.m.
, UTC: 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. America/New_York: 1:30 p.m.- 3 p.m.
, UTC: 8:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. America/New_York: 3:30 p.m.- 5 p.m.
, Friday Dec. 1, 2023
UTC: 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. America/New_York: 5 a.m.- 6:30 a.m.
, UTC: 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. America/New_York: 7:30 a.m.- 9 a.m.

Developing a good planetarium show is more of ‘Aesthetic Cognitivism’, it unfolds aspects of understanding the nature of the objects in the sky, it provides conceptual connections and engages visitors in identifying his or her self as a part of the physical whole - ‘stardust’. Here the presentation style, delivery, the light and shadow, the background music, the silence, the narrations and its density, the visual indicators and signifiers, the intention of the story developer … all matters.

At Regional Science Centre and Planetarium Calicut (RSCPC), we developed 40 planetarium shows over a span of 27 years catering to the common adults, school and the culturally diverse public. This talk reflects upon our experiences and reflections.

Biography:

Jayant Ganguly is an officer at Regional Science Centre and Planetarium Calicut (RSCPC) which is a unit of National Council of Science Museums under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. He is affiliated to this institution for the last 27 years. He works in the field of astronomy outreach and education in particular and STEM communication in general. He has worked in projects towards conceptualization and development of more than 40 planetarium shows, a large number of science galleries and temporary exhibitions at the center.