Kids Take Star Trek Through the Universe

Agoura Hills Library hosted an astronomy program using the NASA mobile planetarium for school-age children on Saturday. The sky show, entitled "Black Holes" and narrated by Star Trek: The Next Generation alumnus John DeLancie, took place in an igloo-shaped, 16 foot, cloth planetarium housed inside the community room.

"This [program] usually goes to schools, but the County of Los Angeles Public Library applied and the show is now at several libraries, but we are the only library in the area that has it," said Grace Bernard, children's librarian.

Bernard was required to take special training in the set-up and use of the $30,000 worth of equipment.

It took library staff approximately 3 hours in total to set up the sky theater and viewing equipment.

The shows, which were held every hour from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., were all fully booked, according to the library staff.

Once inside, the kids were able to lie down and look skyward to watch the seemingly 3-dimensional, 25 minute feature, projected onto the cloth ceiling by a star projector.

Arjun, 9, from Lange Ranch, said he wants to be an astronomer when he grows up. "The show was cool," he said. "I really felt like I was going into a black hole."

Royce, 9, from Calabasas, agreed. "I like how the animation took you places."