With just a few days remaining before the total eclipse of the sun in North Texas, the Planetarium at UT-Arlington is a very busy place.
For weeks, the Planetarium has been hosting field trips for elementary school students to learn the science behind an eclipse.
Wednesday, it was the turn of Longino Elementary in Ferris where about 150 fifth-graders watched with rapt attention as a show of video and animation was projected on the Planetarium's domed ceiling, giving the kids a larger-than-life-size view of the training astronauts endure, the beauty of our solar system and the wider universe plus all they need to know about Monday's eclipse.
Students used words like "awesome" and "amazing" to describe the show. One mom who was along as a chaperone said her children and their classmates all learned a lot, and the adults did too.
UTA Planetarium director Levent Gurdemir tells KRLD News that the planetarium is a special learning facility and certainly a different kind of learning environment.
As part of their field trip, each child received a free pair of eclipse viewing glasses paid for through a NASA grant.
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