The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, presents Astronomy Day 2008 on Sunday, May 11. Planetarium shows, performances, and astronomical activities will take place in the planetarium and Museum galleries from noon to 5 p.m. The performance, programs, and planetarium shows are FREE with Museum admission.

Astronomy Day 2008 is sponsored by Information Methods Incorporated.

Astronomy Day features the performance Galileo: The Starry Messenger at 2:30 pm.Four hundred years ago, Galileo Galilei turned his spyglass to the heavens to see mountains and craters on the moon, four moons for Jupiter, and countless stars. Mike Francis, the creator of “Stars Science Theatre” astronomy programs, takes the role of Galileo, and in a dramatic fun-filled adaptation of Galileo’s short treatise Siderius Nuncius describes the 16th-century Italian mathematician’s observations. Audience members can participate in experiments and demonstrations. Following the performance, Galileo will walk through the Museum galleries and answer questions about his life, times, and other experiments.

The Starry Messenger has been presented at museums and planetariums throughout the United States, among them the Discovery Museum in Acton, MA; Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA; Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, PA; and the Charles Hayden Planetarium, Boston, MA.

Astronomy Day Events, May 11

Performance
2:30 pm - Galileo: The Starry Messenger: “Galileo,” in costume circa 1609, will discuss, in the galleries throughout the afternoon, early astronomical discoveries with the audience.
 
Presentations and Demonstrations
1:30 pm - Starry Safari: Spot mythical beasts that inhabit the sky. Storytelling, music, and audience participation.                                                                                                           

3:30 pm - Rockets Away: Discover how rockets work, and watch a launch from the stage.

Planetarium Shows

• 12:30 pm - The Friendly Stars: Chat with the sun, Sol, sing along with the stars, and draw constellations on the planetarium dome.                                     

• 1:30 & 3:30 pm  - The Sky Tonight: The sky inspires works of art. Van Gogh’s Starry Night is just one. See more.                                                                    
• 2:30 pm  - Retro Rockets of the Silver Screen: A tour through early space cinema.

Activities

• Make a garden sundial, a telescope with lenses, a rainbow with prisms, and read the fingerprint of different substances in light.
• Build a space vehicle out of modules for power, sensing, propulsion, communication, and navigation.
• Fashion your own constellation, create a story to go with it, and create a glow-in-the-dark picture of your star figure.
• See the sky through telescopes with guidance of members of Westchester Amateur Astronomers.