Friday, February 23, 2001

By Ron Jensen
U.K. bureau

RAF ALCONBURY, England — The English sky was typically overcast, but the stars were out Thursday at RAF Alconbury.

Students at the elementary school observed a broad panorama of stars and constellations moving slowly above them as they shouted out, "There’s Orion?" and, "I see the Big Dipper" and wondering, "Where’s Beetlejuice?"

The students, a handful of fourth-graders, were ensconced in a portable classroom known as the "Star Chamber." The chamber, an inflatable room large enough for 30 or 40 children, is essentially a mini-planetarium now sitting in a school classroom here.

"In the middle is this little projector thing and it shows constellations on the ceiling," explained Andrew Happel, one of the fourth-graders who visited the dome on Thursday.

To prepare for the arrival of the chamber, which will remain through next week before moving to RAF Croughton, England, teachers have been instructing their students — from preschool to sixth grade — about the stars and space before they get an up-close look in the chamber.

"We tell them all about stars, how they formed, how far away they are," said Ruth Ann Emery, who teaches a preschool class and is the school’s Star Chamber guru.

Students also learn how the ancient Greeks, Romans and Native Americans identified and named the constellations.

"This makes it real to them," she said of the Star Chamber.

They have learned well, as their answers showed when questioned about stars.

"It’s a burning ball of gas 50 million trillion miles away," said Ryan Woloshin.

Cameron Gray explained how long it takes the light from a star to reach the Earth.

"Like in B.C. — before Christ — a star can blow up and you would only see it now," he said.

And the constellations — the warrior Orion with a red star known as Beetlejuice on his shoulder, the bull, the lion and the dippers — were first identified by ancient people to explain the world, the students said.

"The Greeks made up myths that told how [the stars] could get up there and how they formed," Ellyn Edwards said.

"They would make up stories about the stars and entertain other people," added Ashley Hicks.

Several Star Chambers make the rounds throughout Department of Defense Dependent Schools, Emery said. They come equipped with lesson plans for teachers and are a sure-fire hit with students.

She said students often come to school days later excited to tell how they found the real Big Dipper or the real Orion in the nighttime sky.

One of the cylinders that projects the images connects the stars of the constellations, giving students a view of how those who named the constellations imagined them to look. Some of them take a lot of imagination and some students quibbled with the names.

Tyler Underwood, for example, had doubts about Leo the Lion.

"It looks more like a dog to me," he said.

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