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by Aditha Dissanayake

To Asterix alias Soora-pappa and Oblix alias Jim, earth is one huge rotti with Rome being a large piece of coconut on it. Others have seen it as a plate or a pancake. They are wrong of course. The earth is round - well, almost. To find out more, the place to be is at the Planetarium - inside that ash coloured structure which is said to resemble a flower in bloom, on Stanley Wijesundara Mawatha in Colombo 7.

History

Inside the semi-globe shaped auditorium, in semi-darkness, a "show" begins with a series of slides and the voice of Premakirthi de Alwis, giving a detailed history on star- gazing. Even the ancients, in spite of their busy schedule of hunting and roasting and inventing things, had been fascinated by the stars. Arthur C. Clarke calls those of the stone ages moon-watchers.

From history to outer space itself. We are invited to take a seat in a space craft. Our ship moves away from the earth towards the sun. We see an orange blotch - like a spot of gravy on a table cloth. But this is no gravy stain. This is the picture of the sun, close up. And believe it or not, the sun too is said to get sunspots - but his are great disturbances which look like bursting bubbles. It is disconcerting to be told that the Sun is no longer young, that he too is growing old. He has reached middle age now, and would gradually grow smaller and smaller, till the power of his rays will diminish and he will vanish from the universe. The death of the sun would mean our death too, but relax, there are at least five thousand million years more for the sun to reach the last years of his life.

Storm

Next, thunder, lightening, drops of rain, the experience of being in the middle of a storm (without getting soaked). Then the sunset. Then darkness. Then silently, one by one, blossom the lovely stars, like the forget-me-nots of the angels. "If there are no clouds, smoke or city lights this is how the sky will look today at seven in the night" says the narrator. The sight is awe-inspiring - so many twinkling points of light, some faint, others bright. Some flicker, some twinkle, some are steady... the feeling of "night" is so strong, the inclination is to fall asleep...

The show lasts forty-five minutes. School shows are conducted on weekdays except on Mondays. A ticket for a kid in school uniform costs Rs. 5/-. The price of a ticket for the public shows on Saturdays is Rs. 15. According to the Lecturer in Charge, Soma Yasawathimanike, "In addition to these lectures, the Planetarium also conducts night observation camps for students, under the guidance of visiting lecturers. For further details Principals or teachers could write to " The Officer in Charge. Sri Lanka Planetarium, Stanley Wijesundara Mawatha, Colombo 7 (Tel. 586499). A huge board at the entrance gives the map of the buildings. Number (3) is called the INTERNET, which appears to be a small, air-conditioned room with seven computers. Sixteen year old Rushan Nishantha from Jayakody Maha Vidyalaya, Welipillewa, is seated at one, surfing the internet in search of information about Sri Lanka. He lands on the website of the Ceylon Tourist Board.

Next to him, his colleague scans the front pages of the Sinhala daily newspapers. All the computers are occupied by children in school uniforms. " We provide free internet facilities to all school children" says Nalaka who describes himself as an Internet Instructor.

Any student can become a member by submitting an application through the school principal. "Right now we have about five hundred members and only seven computers. So the waiting list is long." Warns Nalaka. "But everything is free and we try to give at least 1 1/2 hours per week for every student".

Non-functioning No. 4

Though number (4) is marked as the library, I am told that it is not functioning yet, that there are no chairs or books inside the building. Walking around the small glass strewn area with stone benches reserved for children to have their picnic lunches, imaginatively called Moonbase I and Moonbase II, I realize within two hours I have explored everything there is to be explored, at the Sri Lanka Planetarium. I leave the premises realizing I have learnt an important lesson. The unbelievably beautiful moon, often called a pale faced Cynthia by poets, on earth, is not attractive at all when seen close-up. It has hundreds of craters, mountains and valleys. The same could be said of the stars, which too, are not what they appear to be from down below.

Morale, don't believe everything you see, to be true.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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