PoS(ICRC2021)1364 International th 12–23 July 2021 July 12–23 37 SICS CONFERENCE SICS CONFERENCE Berlin | Germany Berlin Berlin | Germany Cosmic Ray Conference Ray Cosmic ICRC 2021 THE ASTROPARTICLE PHY ICRC 2021 THEASTROPARTICLE PHY https://pos.sissa.it/ ONLINE Kerem Osman Cubuk and Heather Alexander ∗ michael.burton@armagh.ac.uk, , [email protected] International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021) Presenter ∗ th Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, College Hill, Armagh, Northern Ireland,E-mail: UK [email protected] We describe an outreach programme being delivered by the(AOP) Armagh for Observatory the and Cherenkov Planetarium Telescope Array (CTA).heritage, Founded in AOP 1790 and today with combines aa rich the astronomical research-informed research outreach and programme educationrelated to activities. arms the We of have public, developed our and most(“Exploring organisation written, the often in-house, to High-Energy a through Universe”) bring that short our describes full theintroduces dome planetarium- the science planetarium CTA of show as gamma-ray the astronomy first and ground-basedcommunity. gamma-ray observatory In open to parallel, the we whole arescientists scientific and engaged the in science developing of the a UK seriesvideos CTA can consortium, of be again short accessed designed through for videos public our to audiences. socialin media introduce These bite-sized channels. the pieces Delivery is of an such essential outreach elementwe programme in have attracting developed and the engaging skill audiences. setbeen We to explain closed how do for this the in past ourthese year, Education concepts a for Team result providing at of outreach AOP support the whilst for Covid-pandemic. our other facility science There facilities. has is also scope in extending Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons © Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). 37 July 12th – 23rd, 2021 Online – Berlin, Germany Michael G. Burton, Outreach for Science Facilities: Armagh ObservatoryPlanetarium’s and programme for the Cherenkov Telescope Array PoS(ICRC2021)1364 , largely as they Michael G. Burton in situ centuries can be experienced th 19 and th 18 2 people. 000 , 15 ∼ . century scientific community, and not those on site in Armagh. st not wrong 21 planetariums. Founded in 1790, the Observatory has been in continuous use for scientific and The Armagh Planetarium was opened in 1968, and today is the oldest operating planetarium in The two institutions, the Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Planetarium, while on the same It is unusual to have both a scientific research organisation and an outreach organisation on Researchers are, of course, leaders in their fields, but can have difficulty encapsulating the Developing such synergies between the two arms of our organisation has not happened The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) contains one of the world’s oldest observa- in a tour of the Observatory.astronomers, Today, these telescopes in sit what alongside the were research formerly officesastronomers, the of however, are the living now current quarters conducting their ofavailable research past to using the Directors the and range of their international families. facilities The the British Isles. Only a handfulsignificant of history planetaria in elsewhere in its the field worldindustry, having are for older. developed instance a In reputation in turn, it for the also innovationaround introduction has within 50,000 of a the visitors video planetarium per technology year intoof (pre-Covid), dome the a City shows. remarkably of high Today, Armagh it number is attracts just given that the population site nevertheless operated independently untilto their unlock merger the in synergies 2016. that might Thearms be intent of obtained of the between the new the merger organisation research was –research-informed and outreach the the programmes. AOP. education & Below we outreach describe one of the products of1.1 that merger – A Capacity for Research-informed Outreach the same site, certainlyrelationship one between with the such activities a ofillustrating rich each the to scientific the be heritage. constellations developed.shows and at This Instead their planetaria, has of we mythology, now the haveresearch which allowed traditional and been a typically star the able scientific close dominates show, to pedigree presenter-led of enrich the our Observatory offerings within them. by includingmessages elements of of their current work intoteam the are bite-sized skilled in chunks presenting needed messageswhich for to public is the presentation. public needed, in Our the notgenerally short, education overwhelming also accessible want them and to entertaining with explain. style all However,in they interpreting need the it to facts while be simplifying and guided themost as caveats content importantly, to that and what ensuring the research the key scientists essential science message is, remains, and and is, overnight, it has notgoing been process, easy, one and we need indeed toAOP. is always Nevertheless, work not in at complete. the to five ensure yearsare that This it achieving it has will success remains now in be embedded been delivering in a since research-informed the the public continuous culture merger, outreach and we of in are science. on- proud to say that we tories Armagh’s Outreach Programme for CTA 1. The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium research ever since. Sixwere generations when of used telescopes for pioneering aremodern found science clock-driven equatorial within, in telescope still their through day. the Key innovations in the development of the PoS(ICRC2021)1364 Michael G. Burton !), realistic colourings and shadings c >> 3 The presenter generally sits in front of a terminal to deliver their shows in a planetarium, picking However, it also possible to define these actions through a scripting language, basically a set This will be immediately evident to any visitor to the new exhibition hall in the Armagh We are incorporating similar elements within our presentations under the planetarium dome, The essential element of a full dome planetarium is the shared experience of the audience. The A modern digital planetarium is essentially a sophisticated exercise in scientific data visuali- from a set of (virtual) buttons todate take & the time viewer to controller pre-defined to destinations set (e.g.the the the viewing epoch planets), angle, and with orientation a duration of andplaced the illumination. together journey, in and These a other buttons single controllers page are to controlgo then change panel, on often so the simplified the journey, presenter narrating by simply the being pushes experience each to button the in audience turn while to doingof so. commands that set theset objects times to between them. be viewed This might, onplanetarium for the instance, seen dome start from the and above, show occur take-off by in showing and the a orbit location set the of the sequence Earth, host and and with then go on a journey to a series of applied, with surround-sound audio added,tion. to It create is a the dynamic, power of real-timemakes the and such planetarium’s inspiring graphic presentations visualisa- processors now that possible. enableis the Pre-rendered real-time more dome rendering akin shows that to can a also movie-experience beof with shown, events. the though However, giant in this screen, a presenter-led as show theythe that always interests experience follow and the can inclinations be same of altered sequence both each presenter time, dependent and on audience alike. 2.1 Developing a Dome Show Planetarium, which now incorporates elements fromcurrent the research scientific activity, within heritage the of displays the aboutfound Observatory planets, in and stars any and astronomically-focussed science galaxies visitor that are centre. also typically 2. The Planetarium Dome for instance the walk-in sequence astelescopes visitors wait just for a the show short toelements begin walk of now current away illustrates research in the taking heritage the placeas in Observatory. it Armagh. needs All Scenes to these inplanetarium. be are delivered the for in dome a bite-sized chunks, public shows now show, as include a partpresenter of is the taking immersive you, experience thewhich under viewer, can on the go a dome literally tour anywhere of ofsoftware in a needs the space to cosmos, and have time along celestial (with objects with3D the programmed your location within obvious companions, in it proviso a space). that that tour are the Thisis available planetarium what experience for that differentiates is epoch it shared and from with theyou everyone VR are else experience, taking sitting which, alone. under while the also immersive, dome. is for This a journey that sation. The components of cosmos, whetherpositions they and be parameters from are the held solar inthe system, the dome stars projector surface, or system’s as galaxies database, seen whose are from rendered anyplaces in location and/or real epochs the can time presenter be onto chooses simulated to (generally at take speeds you to. Journeys between Armagh’s Outreach Programme for CTA PoS(ICRC2021)1364 Michael G. Burton minutes. Specifically, 10 ∼ 4 The show begins by looking at the multi-wavelength Milky Way and the different phenomena Having introduced the high-energy universe, the next two scenes travel from Earth to cosmic The next scene returns to Earth to look at the kinds of telescopes astronomers are now using to A sequence of scripts can then be run sequentially to produce a dome show. While a fully At AOP we are now trying to do just this. Our first productionOur second was production to is tell aimed the at contributing story to of the outreach programme for a project we We have written this show in five scenes, for a total show length of that dominate our Galaxy’s appearance as weturn change to from the optical, gamma-ray to sky. infrared, to radio. Finally, we sources of gamma rays, firstmassive to black hole the in pulsar the in centretowards the of the M87. relevant heart constellations, We of and start then the the travelthe Crab away journey Crab, from with Nebula, Earth, and the and past then view the then past of stars theVideo to the in galaxies stars and the our in in Galaxy images super our the to are Local sky added Grouptheir to to jets, the as the Virgo well dome cluster as with to black holes, M87 illustrate accretion in the disks its phenomena and heart. their of relativisticexplore pulsars outflows. the and cosmos, winds first the from more familiar optical and radio telescopes on the ground and Hubble of the three authors toshow by this scripting paper, using the Burton Digistar wrote planetarium language, the and script Alexander recorded and the story audio. board, Cubuk produced the produced full dome show renderedor into 7-figure a sums suitable to video produce, and formatshow be for through sold sale a to series by planetaria of a scripts for is vendor 4- actually or mighttogether. free, 5-figure aside cost Further, of amounts, cloud 6- course producing technology from incorporated a the time within dome of theallows the systems the people of who major scripts put planetarium it to suppliers beshows freely can readily shared be with played in other manyproducer planetaria planetaria or through running planetarium. the the world The at same experience no software mightof additional not system, a cost match so to pre-rendered that either of full the thethe dome fully professional experience show, production but is such still isopportunity a to the powerful produce planetarium one, power shows of as that are thecan well within then modern the as use capabilities digital being the of research dome planetarium educational. scientists to who that tell Importantly, the stories it of provides their an Armagh’s own weather science. record, the 225+we year have continuous conducted series since of 1795, daily onOrganisation meteorological as the measurements a occasion Centennial of Weather being Station. recognised by the World Meteorological recently joined as aobservatory. member This is of the next-generation gamma-ray the telescopethe that UK Canary is Islands now consortium of being Spain built and in in on La the the Palma Atacama plateau in Cherenkov of Chile Telescope near to Array ESO’s Paranal Observatory. (CTA) 3. A Dome Show for CTA: Exploring the High-Energy Universe Armagh’s Outreach Programme for CTA celestial objects. The objectssome themselves cases may 3D be renderings represented based by onexperience the how the best the interpretation vista imagery of might available, scientific look or data fromsurface in a which of hypothetical allows the space the craft dome viewer at to it theaudio, is celestial so also location. adding possible To to the to the add experience and text, amplifying imagery the and story. video, as well as bring in suitable PoS(ICRC2021)1364 Michael G. Burton 5 above horizontal, i.e., at the Earth in this image. The centre of screen is overhead in the ◦ 30 A screen grab from the CTA planetarium dome show, here showing the three different types of The final scene then comes to the CTA, introduces the two sites in La Palma and Chile and Figure 1: telescope being used by CTA,hemispherical as dome well has as been theview projected passage is onto of directed a a flat gamma screen, ray towards hence Earth. the circular The field image of from view. the The audience shows how the southern sitethat are will used look. to capture Itthe the gamma-ray explains Cherenkov spectrum flashes the as and three well why as differentemitted they improving from are types the a needed image of cosmic fidelity). (i.e. source, optical travelling related Finally, throughin telescope we to the space follow measuring atmosphere to a when Earth gamma it and ray arrives, inducing and a the Cherenkov resulting cascade blue flash that will, so very briefly, envelope the planetarium dome and the top half of the image would be behind the viewer. in space, before introducing gamma-ray telescopes throughCherenkov H.E.S.S. radiation. in Namibia In and this the concept sceneaccordingly. of we view these telescopes from orbit, moving around the Earth Armagh’s Outreach Programme for CTA PoS(ICRC2021)1364 Michael G. Burton , interviews with our 2 6 and now in its second series. 3 . Blog articles about the sky and about the science 1 Jon Lapington, leader of the UK CTA consortium, being interviewed by Heather Alexander for Another contribution AOP are making to the CTA’s outreach programme is through a series of The dome show has been written and produced entirely in-house at Armagh, but as of the time See facebook.com/armaghplanet, youtube.com/user/ArmaghPlanetarium,See armaghplanet.com twitter.com/armaghplanet,See anchor.fm/intergalacticcraic insta- 1 3 2 gram.com/armaghplanet short get-to-know-you interviews with scientists involved in the project, inUK particular CTA those consortium. within the During the Covid lockclosed down to our the Planetarium public. in Our Armagh education has, team,had of used course, to to been delivering re-invent in-person themselves activities to inWe our order visitors, came have to up continue with deliveringexperiments the education you concept and could outreach of try programmes. "Science atour home. at social media Home", This channels short developed into videos a demonstrating whole easy-to-make range of online activities using 4. Get to Know the Scientists Interviews scientists, short talks on astronomy (Astrobytes),with Star robotic Trackers – telescope live viewing (using star Slooh) shows (usingaudiences, and Stellarium) audience Cosmic interaction Classroom using (a Zoom aimed similarseries at programme entitled family but "Intergalactic targeted Craic" towards schools), and a podcast of writing has yet to bewe shown have even in been our able planetarium to inZoom Armagh do (see due is1), Fig. to share the which it CovidOnce of lockdown. with we course All audiences are cannot via able provide screen to thepublicly share launch available full the of through immersive show the a experience in Digistar flat of the cloudrendered screen into to Armagh the version other other Planetarium Dome. over formats planetaria then for around showing it in the will planetaria world. be with It different made projector may freely systems. also and be Figure 2: the "Get to Know You" series introducing the scientists of the project. telescopes. At the same time,CTA project we has also produced, show illustrating alongside these onand concepts the processed. further dome as extracts We well from end asthat a by how scientists video the puzzling will data that about be are the able the recorded to enigma explore of using the the CTA. most extreme phenomena in nature Armagh’s Outreach Programme for CTA PoS(ICRC2021)1364 Michael G. Burton 7 A particular success was the “5 Questions” interview series, where the team approached We (Alexander) have now recorded the first interview in this new initiative, with Professor Jon We also hope to be able expand these initiatives to providing outreach support for other science The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (see www.armagh.space) is an Arms Length Body This work was conducted in the context of the CTA Communications and Outreach group. We prominent scientists and asked ifOne they’d example like to is be an interviewed, interviewbe nominally accessed with through via Helen five AOP’s YouTube Sharman, questions. channel.behind the We have the first now scientists British adapted involved this astronaut, in programmeAn the the to immense full the project, tell with collaborations the series over stories 1,000 we can scientists workwith contributing with, towards them its and future a completion, in comprehensive bringing particular rangescience the of aims CTA. skill can sets be to prominent,that the make the table. this essential all contributions In possible can such coming get a from lost, project, the to the while enabling public the disciplines asLapington, headline well leader as to of the the fundingbuilding UK bodies. some consortium of within the CTA camerasdiameters (see and SSTs).2). Fig. associated Through this technologies His interview for programme teamscience, the we are small-sized and aim responsible telescopes to showcase bring the (the for you remarkable 4m global the project. contributions scientists behind they the are making towards the success offacilities this in the future. Acknowledgments of the Department for CommunitiesDfC (DfC) for their in grant the support Northern to ourprogrammes. Ireland organisation Executive. that enables The AOP’s We research, are education UK and gratefulCouncil CTA outreach to (STFC). consortium The is audio supportedSouthern for by Regional the College the in Planetarium Armagh. Science Dome and show Technology was Facilities recorded withgratefully acknowledge the financial support help from of the agencies the listed and here: organisations for http://www.cta-observatory.org/consortium_acknowledgments/. the CTAC that are Armagh’s Outreach Programme for CTA