by Karina Guzzi
Daily Lobo
Lodestar's movie, "Passport to the Universe," presents audiences with the Earth's cosmic address.
Earth is shown as a small planet among many in a galaxy among many in a super cluster of galaxies among many. As the horizon grows larger, the Earth seems small and insignificant.
"It was an interesting way to present our place in the universe - which is basically nowhere," said Don Reightley, a retired engineer. "It gave a good idea of the scale as compared to our everyday experience."
Christopher Billos said it was a good way to "put you in your place."
The presentation, projected on a dome 55-feet in diameter and narrated by Tom Hanks, starts by informing the audience there are more stars in the sky than it seems.
"For every star we can see with the unaided eye, the night hides 50 million others in our Milky Way galaxy alone," Hanks narrates.
Paul Lucero, who brought his daughter Andrea, said he was surprised there are more stars than we can see.
The presentation then shows images of the planets we would see if we traveled outward, away from the sun - Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. As we leave the galaxy, the camera turns back to show the path traveled, and Earth is such a small dot among millions that it is impossible to find it without help.
The next stop on the trip takes the viewer to a virtual landscape of the Orion Nebula, where stars are born. We then move out of the Milky Way and look back at the galaxy. The Earth keeps looking smaller.
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The Milky Way is one of the thousands of galaxies in the Virgo supercluster. The presentation has images that impressively illustrate what galaxies and superclusters are. The show also explains black holes.
"The graphics were cool," Billos said.
Kate Reightley, a sculptor from Corrales, said graphically the presentation was aimed for the younger people, but it worked well for others. She said it would have been better if it had been more clear which images were photos from probes and which were made-up.
Brandon Benally, 17, saw it with his sister Tracy, 9, and his mother. He said he enjoyed the presentation.
"It showed everything," Benally said. "When we went up to the galaxies, that was my favorite part."
Laurel Ladwig, planetarium manager, prepared the introduction locally with a soundtrack by Santa Fe composer Michael Sterns.
The movie opened Saturday at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and will run until November.
Lodestar is a UNM community outreach project. "Passport to the Universe" is sponsored by the Albuquerque Journal and Molina Healthcare.
"Passport to the Universe"
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
1801 Mountain Road NW
$6 adults, $5 seniors, $3 children
