"I have created a planetarium within the virtual world of Second Life. Using it, students in my Introduction to Astronomy class write and premiere astronomy shows for the public." - Anthony Crider

Background

I have always enjoyed trying out new tools and techniques in the classroom and am particularly drawn to software that enhances visualization of data or concepts. In my Astronomy in Mexico class, students used PTGui panorama-stitching and Starry Night astronomy software to create panoramic views of the skies seen by the ancient Maya. In my General Physics classes, students have written VPython code to create 3-D simulations of physics experiments. At a workshop hosted by another Elon professor, Megan Conklin, I learned about yet another new tool, Second Life. This virtual world allows users to explore and create objects that can be shared with every other user. In her presentation, Dr. Conklin demonstrated the abilities of this new media and listed 101 potential projects. The very last item on the list was to construct a virtual planetarium. As an undergraduate, a part-time job at my alma mater’s planetarium played a pivotal role in my career as an astronomer. I have often wished that Elon had its own planetarium. In my spare time, I taught myself the building tools and programming language of Second Life and within a few weeks had a functioning virtual planetarium. I didn’t originally plan to use it in my classes; it was simply supposed to be an exercise for learning the Second Life language. However, this relatively straightforward project received a lot of attention from other Second Life users and the press, leading me to believe that it may be a viable new media for astronomy outreach.