There’s a planetarium on Western campus, and it holds regular screenings. As you ascend the curved stairs in the Wilson library, you can see behind you an unassuming set of stairs that leads to a no man’s land of reference books. These stairs, actually part of Haggard Hall (along with the rest of the building south of the sky bridge, fun fact) lead to the third floor. This is my second year at Western, I’ve visited and toured many times before that, and somehow I still had no idea that this area existed.

But let me just say, if you also had no idea there was a third floor until now, apart from the world’s most advanced fulldome digital theater system, the only thing you’ve been missing out on is the circular desk that sits beneath the ceiling’s dome.

The screening room is pretty small, and only seats about 30 people, but that makes for a more intimate Q and A session with your host. The host, your intergalactic guide, shepherds you through time and space as you explore the constellations, the Milky Way, and star-churning nebulas at the farthest reaches of observable space. If you’re one to be especially annoyed by small children, I caution you against this rainy-day activity. Out of the 30 of us, probably 10 were kids under the age of 10. That being said, the first half of the presentation was incredible to look at and extremely informative, and made so much better by our presenter being so personal with us. At one point, while telling us about the appearance of stars, he said something along the lines of, “Pretty much everything about stars depends on the mass. If you’re taking a test on stars, and you don’t know the answer, just write "it depends on the mass," and you’ll be right about 75 percent of the time.”

To drive the point home, he started quizzing us. “What is the typical star’s orbit?”

And we chanted back:

“Depends on the mass!”

“How bright can a star be?”

“Depends on the mass!”

“What do Catholics do at church?”

“Depends on the mass!”

The second half was a screening of the feature-length fulldome movie, "Dynamic Earth." The film shows the interconnectedness of the planet’s climate, from the polar caps down to the deepest depths of the ocean. The movie was prerecorded, obviously, and narrated by Liam Neeson. Considering this, I’m sure that someone with a dislike for children would have been happier with an interactive screening of Taken." This half of the hour-long experience left a little to be desired. The visuals were stunning, don’t get me wrong, but the overall presentation paled in comparison to our charismatic host. "Dynamic Earth," in dealing with the Earth’s interwoven climate, talks considerably on global warming, but fails to mention the devastating effects of agribusiness, especially the catastrophic impact of sustaining animals and animal products for human consumption.

All in all, for a price of $10, the dome is well worth it and easily accessible. I highly recommend it for a day that you’d otherwise just spend inside. But why do that, when you can spend it inside a dome of a billion glowing stars?

You can find the planetarium's Facebook page here, and the screening schedule through March here.