Science on Wheels — Public Portable Planetarium
The Portable Planetarium brings the night sky to your site in the middle of the day! While the Portable Planetariumcan only accommodate up to 25 people in a session, it is possible to schedule up to six sessions in a visit, allowing for up to 150 visitors to be served. This is great for camp groups or longer community events with a structured schedule. If you need to accomodate more people, contact us to discuss other options (shorter sessions, or multiple days)
Southern Skies
Learn the basics of the night sky in our local area. We will focus on planets and constellations visible in the current night sky, but also discuss how those things change over hours, seasons and years. We’ll end by displaying a full dome illustration of the Greek Constellations across our model sky.
Program Details
Format: Small Group
Maximum Capacity: 25 people
Recommended Audience: Families, camp groups, after school groups, best for children age 5 and up
Duration: 30 minutes per session (contact us to request other length options)
Requirements:
- A large indoor space with ceilings at least 11” high and open floor space at least 30’x20’
- No objects protruding from the walls or ceiling into the presentation space
- A three pronged electrical outlet near the presentation space
- All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult inside the dome. For camp or afterschool groups, a staff person must accompany each group. For library groups, a staff person may serve in place of a parent
Schedule:
- Educator will arrive approximately 45 minutes prior to the scheduled start time to unload, check in and set up
- Calculate the drive time from Roper Mountain Science Center to your site, then add that amount of time to 8:00 to determine your earliest assembly start time (If it is a one hour drive from Roper Mountain to your site, add one hour to 8 a.m. and the earliest start time is 9 a.m.)
- For multiple sessions, allow at least 10 minutes in between sessions to reset the equipment
- If the schedule overlaps a meal time, please allow a longer break of at least 30 minutes for the instructor to eat. Meal breaks are required if more than 4 sessions are scheduled.
Payment
Payment is due within 30 days after the date of the program. An invoice will be e-mailed to the booker when the reservation is made. Educators CANNOT take payment. Please mail your payment to Roper Mountain. Credit card payments can be made in person at Roper Mountain Science Center (please call ahead to schedule a payment time), but we cannot take credit card information by phone or email.
Travel Area
We will travel to locations up to a 2.5 hour drive from Roper Mountain for a single day visit. Sites farther than 2.5 hours (up to 5 hours) may book an overnight trip with an added flat fee of $200 per night to cover hotel and meals for our instructor. There is a travel fee for locations outside of Greenville County of $0.95 per mile. We use Google Maps to calculate drive times and distances.
Fees
| 1 Session | $150 |
| 2 Sessions | $200 |
| 3 Sessions | $250 |
| 4 Sessions | $300 |
| 5 Sessions | $350 |
| 6 Sessions | $400 |
* No travel fee in Greenville County. For other counties, a travel fee of $0.95 per mile applies
Reservations
Science on Wheels – Public Registration Form
Questions: Contact the Outreach Specialist, Jennifer Romatelli
Please Note
RMSC can’t take credit card payments over the phone.