SCIENCE: LBV Planetarium inspires community 

By Andrea Geiss
Bridge Contributing Writer
Published Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024

One of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium’s aims is to inspire the community about science through educational shows, the Planetarium’s director said.

Planetarium Director Peter Davis, along with his student staff, hope to eventually expand their social media presence and share their message with more of the community.

One of these recent shows was the Live Tour of the Late Summer Sky that took place on Sept. 13 at the Planetarium. The pyramid-shaped planetarium glows from within, filled with the cosmic colors of the stars above. Here, people can enjoy a view of the night sky and its stars up-close—along with an in-depth explanation of the constellations and the legends behind them.

Jacqueline Delao, a first-time-attendee, discovered the live tour through the TAMIU Events Calendar, hoping to satisfy her children’s curiosity of the sky.

“It was very interesting,” Delao said. “Really seeing the point of view we have in our sky and the constellations that we can see.”

The Planetarium also hosts several schools and large student groups—with Davis leading lessons and hands-on activities for various school grades. Davis said the goal of these educational shows and lessons is to “excite students and [the] public about what’s happening in space and what is in space already.”

He reminisced about his junior high school days when he visited his own local university, motivated by its science program to continue learning.

“I really think it [does] go back to what I’m doing,” Davis said. “That’s why I want to do more of that … because [children] are not gonna forget that.” 

Multiple members of the student staff agreed with colleague Gabriel Cisneros’s suggestion of expanding the Planetarium’s social media presence.

“The main appeal of the special events that we do like this, is to have community outreach and to let people who’ve never really dabbled [in] astronomy before have a chance to see it first hand,” Cisneros said. “It awakens that passion in a lot of children who would’ve never known that they enjoyed astronomy otherwise.

“If we want to reach out to the community, I think we should start by really developing our social media presence more.”

Davis agreed with additional social media; however, adding it would take some time to implement.

Until a new social media plan is implemented, events and showtimes for the Planetarium can be found on the TAMIU Events Calendar and the TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium Facebook Page.