Understanding the mysteries of space is thrilling. Photo / Supplied
Sarah Ell and her son are awed, charmed and enlightened by a 'movie' at the Observatory.
Our trip to Stardome doesn't start well; four-year-old Florian has fallen asleep in the car on the way and doesn't take too kindly to being woken up.
My plan to check out the exhibits before the 3pm showing of Tilt dissolves in a rain of tears and much embarrassing lying on the floor and shouting.
Just when I am about to give up and come back another day, the theatre doors open and we are ushered into the dome-roofed planetarium for our show.
On a rainy Saturday there is a good turnout, mostly of families with children aged under 10 but also the odd single or couple who might have picked the wrong venue for a date.
Florian cheers up considerably when he sees the comfy movie theatre-style chairs, reclined back on an angle so viewers can settle in and view the show projected on to the dome above.
"Cool, a movie on the roof!"
Tilt, sourced from the Museum Victoria Melbourne Planetarium, explains the science between the changing seasons through the adventures of a sister and brother, Annie and Max, and a talking robot, Kelvin. The computer-generated animation is sophisticated and the projection on the roof sometimes makes us feel like we really are travelling through space.
The story takes us into space for an astronaut's-eye view of Earth before zooming down to Antarctica and back to the kids' bedroom in Melbourne, demonstrating along the way how the tilt of Earth causes the seasons. It is educational without being boring in the slightest, and although some of the concepts may be a bit beyond my four-year-old, it is well aimed at the slightly older kids sitting in the audience.
They don't seem to notice that the show is Australian - the accents aren't strong and the science is global - but the adults have a sly laugh when Annie says, "If Earth wasn't tilted, the weather would always be crazy" and the robot replies, "If the weather was always crazy, it would be like Melbourne."
At the conclusion of the half-hour "movie", our planetarium guide, Pooja Sundar, takes us for a virtual tour through a projection of the current Auckland night sky, starting with sunset.
As the stars come out, an overlay of "join the dots" identifies the various constellations. Pooja points out the constellation Scorpius, and explains how its claws were truncated when the two "pincer" stars got co-opted into Libra, because it was taking up too much sky. These two stars rejoice under the names of Zubeneschamali and Zubelelgenubi - celebrity baby names if I ever heard them.
It's great stuff for kids, but there are things for parents to learn, too. I knew that Pluto has been demoted from its planetary status but it was news to me that what we call the sun actually has its own star name, Sol, and that the moon is called Luna.
"Calling it 'the moon' is like calling your cat 'the cat'," Pooja points out.
Our hour in the planetarium up, it's time to go exploring those exhibits outside in the foyer. There is plenty to look at: rocket replicas, space suits, telescopes, a special weighing machine that tells you how much you weigh on other planets (go to Venus if you want to shed a few kilos, but avoid Jupiter) and a display of moon and Mars rocks. A cool "Magic Planet" projection changes its surface and spins at varying speeds according to the buttons being pressed.
Most of the displays and activities would be better with a child older than four but there is plenty of fun to be had rolling a ball round and round and watching it drop noisily into a vortex to explore the laws of gravity.
Any fears I had about the outing being a bit much for Florian dissolved when I later overheard him talking to the builder next door.
"Have you been to Stardome?" he was asking. "We went last week and there were movies on the roof. It was awesome."
• Until December 24, bring along an item to donate to Auckland City Mission or SPCA Auckland and you'll get into a Stardome show for $5 (excludes Tuesday night shows and special events).
• School holiday programme, Make it Minecraft, a space-themed wall installation made of paper cubes (or six). Planetarium shows include The Little Star That Could, Perfect Little Planet, Dinosaurs at Dusk plus rocket launching and crafts. Monday January 5 to January 30, 10am, 12noon and 2pm. Bookings essential.
• The Young Astronomers club, aimed at kids aged 6 and up, re-starts February 6 with monthly talks, research projects and more, led by enthusiastic adults.
• Stardome Observatory and Planetarium is at 670 Manukau Rd, Royal Oak, ph (09) 624 1246.