You’ll be Glad you Live on Earth!

You’ll be Glad you Live on Earth!

National Geographic Entertainment’s Wildest Weather in the Solar System debuts in digital full-dome planetariums worldwide in 2011. New Zealand’s premiere will be held at Carter Observatory in an exclusive evening event on 30 November.

This spectacular show will take people on an immersive journey to see weather extremes in our Solar System like never before.

Viewers will witness the most beautiful, powerful, and mysterious weather phenomena in the Solar System. From a storm the size of a 100-megaton hydrogen bomb, to a 400-year-old hurricane, to a dust tempest that could engulf entire planets, you'll be glad you live on Earth!

Dr Claire Bretherton, Carter Observatory’s Education & Public Programmes Manager took an advisory role in the show. She says “It’s a really exciting opportunity to be involved with a production like this from early on. This fantastic new show links really well with our education programmes, particularly for those groups learning about the Solar System. And where better in the world than Wellington to have a show about wild weather!”

Audiences will fly through the thick atmosphere of Venus, magnetic storms on the sun, liquid methane showers on Titan, and anticyclones whirling at hundreds of kilometres per hour on Jupiter. Packed with eye-popping visuals, high-end CGI (computer generated imagery), and cutting-edge science.

Wildest Weather in the Solar System premieres in an exclusive event on 30 November in the Pelorus Trust Planetarium, Carter Observatory, Wellington Botanic Garden. Doors open at 6.30pm.

As part of the evening Erick Brenstrum, New Zealand MetService will take us on a journey through Earth’s history of wild weather. A severe weather forecaster and weather historian, Erick Brenstrum has been writing articles on the weather for over twenty years in magazines such as New Zealand Geographic, and is the author of The New Zealand Weather Book. A life member of the New Zealand Meteorological Society, he gives frequent talks and lectures on the weather.

Tickets cost adults $18, child $8, concession $13. Free for Carter Star Pass holders. Bookings are essential.

Wildest Weather in the Solar System will be a regular planetarium show at Carter Observatory, starting with a back-to-back Wildest Weather weekend on 3 and 4 December.

Link to Trailer for Wildest Weather in the Solar System
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/movies/wildest-weather/wildest-weather-trailer.html

Supporting Information

• Dr Claire Bretherton gained her Ph.D at Liverpool John Moores University in 2006. She worked as Planetarium Officer / Astronomy Learning Officer at Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG) at the National Maritime Museum until 2010 when Claire immigrated to New Zealand to head the education and visitor experience section of the re-opened Carter Observatory. Dr Bretherton has published a number of articles on star formation and is a Capital City Science Educators committee member.

• Information on Erick Brenstrum Presentation - Earth’s Wild Weather
Cyclones, tornados, floods, snowstorms and drought wreck havoc on human affairs and has done throughout history. Kublai Khan’s invasion fleet was destroyed twice by typhoons along the coast of Japan while Napoleon and Hitler both lost armies to the Russian winter. In recent years, hurricane Katrina, the thunderstorms of tornado alley, Australian wildfires and monsoon flooding have continued the saga of human struggle with wild weather, while over the long term, small variations in the Earth’s orbit have controlled the advance and retreat of the Ice Ages.

• Carter Observatory re-opened as New Zealand’s space technology education and visitor attraction on 27 March 2010. Over 70,000 people have visited since, including 12,000 school children.

Web: www.carterobservatory.org
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ENDS

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