Erica Ellington, who became fascinated with the universe when she was only 5 years old, this week will take Fiske Planetarium audiences out to the distant star clusters previously visited only in science fiction.
The assistant professor in the University of Colorado at Boulder聮s department of astrophysics and planetary sciences, will present public programs on "Galaxies at the Edge of the Universe," on Tuesday, Jan. 12, and Friday, Jan. 15, at 7:30 p.m.
From the "Big Bang" theory of creation to the domain of dwarf stars and cosmic wallpaper, her visually descriptive shows portray what galaxies are, where they come from and why they look like they do.
Ellington began her personal journey to the stars as a child in Massachusetts during a visit to the planetarium at the Boston Museum of Science. "I聮ve wanted to get behind the console ever since," she said. That quest led to her obtaining an undergraduate degree in physics from MIT, and a doctorate in 1989 from the University of Arizona. Later, she worked in New Mexico and British Colombia, Canada.
Sitting behind a computerized console at Fiske Planetarium, guiding stars across the night canopy with the tap of her fingertips, she observed that no matter where she went, "I took the sky with me."
Ellington designed the show around her own work, in which she uses optical and radio observatories, X ray space observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope.
The presentation is the first of five monthly astronomy shows scheduled by the planetarium this spring.
Fiske Planetarium is located at Regent Drive and Kittredge Loop Drive on the CU-Boulder campus. Free visitor parking is available after 5 p.m. at the meters along Regent Drive and in metered lots 306 and 330 off of Regent Drive.
Admission is $3.50 for adults and $2 for seniors and children. For information about the programs at Fiske Planetarium, call 303-492-5001 for a recorded announcement, or 303-492-5002 to speak to a member of the planetarium staff. The planetarium also has a web site at . edu/fiske.