Science | New dome show features ‘Lights of Wonder’
Starting from yesterday, the Macau Science Center (MSC) is presenting an all-new dome show called, “Aurora: Lights of Wonder,” at the center’s Planetarium.
According to the MSC, the show is “the world’s first 4k [4,000 pixel resolution] real time virtual reality full dome show,” and features the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis. The show will explain how these lights are formed and their appearance and location patterns through the year.
The show is presented in Cantonese and offers translation channels in Mandarin, Korean and English.
The 30-minute long 2D movie is directed by South Korean astrophotographer O-Chul Kwon, who, after spending several years preparing, finally captured the dazzling footage during an aurora substorm in 2015.
As explained by MSC representatives yesterday during a press conference, the faster the aurora moves, the brighter it becomes. Thus, unlike usual time-lapse images, high resolution video at 30 frames per second was taken by ultra-high sensitivity cameras and by low light sensors to capture the auroras as they are. Given these facts, the audience can experience sophisticated and dynamic features of the real aurora storm that was witnessed and captured by the director.
Animations and computer graphics were used throughout the show to explain the science phenomenon of the northern lights and to share the legends that have been built around them.
The show offers the audience a chance to see the auroras from the International Space Station for the first time and will share with the audience the best locations to see auroras. The processes that create the lights’ vivid colors and shapes will be explained, as will the different kinds of auroral substorms the latest scientific breakthroughs in auroral studies and the auroras on other planets.
Charles Si Man Chon, head of the Planetarium Department at MSC, said that “in regards to the scientific part, the movie talks about how the auroral groups are formed, how the sun interacts with our planet. Overall, I think it is a really good piece of knowledge for our audience to learn about.”
“We will run the show for at least one year,” informed Si, adding that “maybe we can keep it longer depending on the audience’s reaction.”
During the summer vacation, and starting from yesterday, 10 sessions will be available for the public every week.
For the rest of this week, two shows will be available from Wednesday to Saturday, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon.
The show has won both the Audience Award in the fourth International Planetarium Movie Festival 2016 in South Korea and the Janus Astro Award for Best Astronomy-oriented full dome show in the 11th Full Dome Festival 2017 in Germany.
