2010: Starry Hill Opens! (2010-5-30) ⬅︎ |
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After years of planning and construction, we are excited to announce that Starry Hill Observatory and
Planetarium is now open to school, university, scouting, church and other community groups that are
interested in
astronomy education and stargazing resources.
What is Starry Hill? Starry Hill is a non-profit foundation started by two educators with decades of
teaching
experience committed to providing astronomy education and stargazing experiences to students and the
adults
connected to
them.
Starry Hill is located near the town of Eatonville, Washington, in the Cascade foothills. It is at a dark-
sky
site -- a location away from the lights of cities allowing the viewing of planets, galaxies, nebulae, and
clusters in
their entire
splendor!
Starry Hill consists of both an observatory and a planetarium. An observatory is a building with a
rotating dome that houses a telescope. But there's also a large, outdoor viewing area with multiple
telescopes of
different types
and sizes so that students can hunt down and explore astronomical objects simultaneously.
A planetarium is a theater which a hemispherical screen above. This virtual universe
becomes both a
spaceship and a classroom allowing travel to other worlds and other times in order to study what's out
there
and how the
universe works. Starry Hill's
planetarium is digital allowing it to do far more than what is capable in a traditional
planetarium.
We are now partnering with teachers, professors and leaders from public, private and home school
groups, from
scouting, civic, church and other community groups in the surrounding communities.
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