Poetry and the Planets October 24, 2009

How do we imagine the stars?

This hands-on session from the University, which is part of Manchester Science Festival, looks at the way that the universe has been imagined in paintings, poetry, and scientific equipment over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

People attending this event will be invited to picture the night sky and create their own picture-in-words of the stars and planets.

They will have a chance to explore and discover the different methods that have been used over the years to represent the universe, such as: the orrery in the Museum's reception area, creating a human orrery with the students themselves, looking at paintings of the night sky and images from a modern telescope, celestial globes, old and new microscopes, poetry written about the stars.

These sessions will teach students about the solar system, but also ask them to think about the way that this is imagined, and how representations of the night sky have changed over time.

Official Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/966