Children revel in space experience

Milly McArthur and Reuben Puketapu, both aged 11, inspect a model space station at the Stardome. Picture / Brett Phibbs

If you've ever wanted to get up and close with the planets and experience another universe, then the Stardome Observatory is the place to visit these school holidays.

Two holiday programmes, World Space Week and Living in Space, will blast off today, giving children the chance to learn about life in space.

The programmes to take children on a "cosmic expedition" will run Monday to Friday until October 6 and consist of three sessions, including a new show called DarkStar Adventure involving a journey through space.

Children will be able to design a Stardome Space Station, form space shuttle teams and try to launch the shuttle to the space station.

Workshops will run at 10am, 11am and 1pm daily. One adult and one child together costs $15 and each additional person costs $9.

The observatory's other new show is SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), which investigates the existence of alien life.