Bays Mountain Planetarium Show "When Venus Transits the Sun" Big Hit Worldwide!

Bays Mountain Planetarium Show
"When Venus Transits the Sun" Big Hit Worldwide!

Bays Mountain Planetarium staff are very happy about the worldwide 
distribution of their latest planetarium show, "When Venus Transits 
the Sun."  As of early May 2012, about fifty-six copies of the show 
have been distributed to planetaria and showing in 27 states in the US 
and 12 countries worldwide.  Countries include far-away, exotic places 
like Australia, Africa, Sweden, India, China, Russia, Malaysia and 
more!  The farthest US state to receive the show is Hawaii.  Bays 
Mountain Park staff joke about being shipped with the show contents to 
make sure the package "gets to its destination."  But how to fit in 
such a small box.?

The months of March and April have been overly busy for planetarium 
staff as they have had to, in addition to their regular busy schedule, 
receive orders, install the show on hard drives shipped to them, and 
send them back.  Some theaters needed to have the show processed so it 
would work for their systems.  This added quite a bit of work as it 
can be complex, but was worthwhile to make sure a fellow planetarian 
could run the program in their theater.

Bays Mountain's main goal was to create a full-dome show that was 
accurate, interesting, educational, and easily used.  It also needed 
to incorporate a live section to provide activities that all the 
audience could participate in.  Another goal was to make the show very 
affordable.  Leasing planetarium shows is very expensive.  For most 
theaters, a typical show would require a special sponsor to pay for 
the license.  We priced our show so that anyone could afford it.  Even 
with the low cost, the world's economy has hit certain planetaria 
harder than others.  We have provided the show to some at a token 
amount and others for free.  Though not as prevalent nowadays, there 
are still a lot of "classic" theaters out there that cannot project a 
full-dome image.  As such, a special DVD version of the show had been 
created to help these theaters.  Park staff, and the City of 
Kingsport, is pleased with the idea that our work is being enjoyed 
worldwide and providing a solid educational, and fun, experience.

The Venus transit that will occur on June 5th, 2012 will be the 
biggest celestial event worldwide this year.  This is when we will see 
the planet Venus pass in front of, or transit, the sun.  It starts at 
6:04 p.m. and will continue past sunset.  Sunset for East TN is about 
8:45 p.m.  There will be a free, public viewing with telescopes 
including appropriate solar filters, but are waiting for the final 
legal signatures before we can announce where it will be.  The viewing 
will not be at Bays Mountain Park as it won't be able to handle the 
expected huge turnout.  The viewing will be hosted by the Bays 
Mountain Astronomy Club and the Physics Dept. at ETSU.  The transit 
will become very popular in the news as we approach the date and so 
this show will help planetaria to educate and inspire their visitors 
about this event and astronomy as a whole.

This show is provided at Bays Mountain Planetarium on the weekends at 
1 & 4 p.m. and Tues.-Fri. at 4 p.m.  During June, up through the 9th, 
it will be shown at 1 & 4 p.m. daily.

The show looks into the rare and magnificent celestial apparition 
called a Venus transit.  The show covers what a transit is, a famous 
transit viewing from the 18th century led by Captain Cook, and 
exciting information about the sun and Venus.  There will also be a 
live component to the show that allows the audience to participate in 
two fun activities.

A Venus transit is when the planet Venus is seen passing in front of 
the sun.  Why so special?  Telescope technology in the 18th century 
allowed the first opportunity for astronomers to accurately determine 
the size of the Solar System.  Another reason for being special is 
that these transits are rare.  Two consecutive transits occur eight 
years apart.  But, these pairs are separated by 105.5 and 121.5 years 
alternatively.  The last transit occurred in 2004.  The next one will 
be June 5, 2012.  Diehard optimists will just have to wait 105 years 
for the next pair!

Contact Bays Mountain Planetarium Staff, Adam Thanz or Jason Dorfman, 
for more details:

423-229-9447
baysmountain.com