Yuri’s Night – Monday, April 12, 2010
We’re gearing up for an exciting new event – a celebration of the first human in space. Yuri’s Night is a worldwide celebration of space exploration, with over 175 parties in more than 50 countries on 7 continents. Winnipeg is party #121 this year.
Yuri’s’ Night is an interesting blend of science, art, music, and party. We’re going to have some presentations by scientists, astronomers, and engineers, and a big group discussion on the future of spaceflight. We’re also going to have DJs and live PA’s filling the planetarium star theatre with music, and some cool space-based video projections on the dome. There will be a meteorite petting zoo where you can touch actual rocks from space, and a space-themed costume contest, with a real meteorite as the grand prize! The event also features a sneak preview of a brand-new video game being developed for NASA by Project Whitecard, a Winnipeg-based serious gaming company – some cutting edge space stuff from right here in our home town. The event will have a cash bar as well, making the event an 18+ event. (We plan to make the event accessible to all ages next year, which will be the 50th anniversary of Yuri’s flight and a Big Deal here at the Museum.)
Details can be found on The Museum’s Facebook page – if you’re not on Facebook, head to www.facebook.com , join up and search for “The Manitoba Museum” group.
Upcoming sky events: you can still catch Mercury this week in the early evening, right after sunset. Go outside as soon as the sun goes down and face west. The brilliant white object close to the horizon is the planet Venus; that’s the easy one. Now look a bit to the right and slightly down for a much fainter “star” in the twilight glow. That’s Mercury, closest planet to the sun. You only have a few more days to catch it, since Mercury’s orbit will carry it lower each night, and it will disappear into the sun’s glare by the middle of next week.
