This was a NASA event done in conjunction with AMNH. NASA brought their GeoDome Theater which they use for outreach education (Carmel Conaty heads the effort) and they asked the Elumenati to come in support. Carmel may be able to offer more details of the event organization if she's not taking a well deserved vacation!

Because there were 150 students, NASA felt a second dome was necessary to give 20 mins shows to them all. SkySkan was invited to bring their Defniti dome as the second theater. The GeoDome used Univeiw and presentations were given by Carter Emmart from AMNH. The Definiti dome used DigitalSky and I believe presentations were given by Susanne (last name?) from AMNH. Since I was trapped in a GeoDome for the entire event it's difficult to say who ran the Definiti dome.

Both domes were intended to be in the center of the lawn, but the 30 mph winds kept collapsing the Definiti dome. It was moved under the shelter of one of the large NASA tents. The GeoDome despite occasionally lifting 6' off the ground held on tight!

The GeoDome also networked in three planetariums in the MN GeoDome Network, Como Elementary School, Mankato East High School and Mayo High School in Rochester. All four sites were taken on the same tour of the cosmos. Carter fielded many questions from students in MN and the kids in Washington were clearly excited to be sharing in the experience. There were frequent cheers of 'Hello Minnesota!' and 'Hello Washington!'

I can fill in details of the second dome, as I was invited to provide the second dome and planetarium system for the star party at the White House, enabling all the school children to experience a show during the narrow time window on Oct 7.

I was thrilled to have President Obama and first family come into the dome for 10 minutes to experience the Sky-Skan system. The dome was actually a Starlab dome designed for indoor use. I'd requested to be inside the NASA tent if there were strong winds. Setup in 20 mph gusts was not possible (even after some valiant efforts), and once everyone was on the same page the dome was set up inside the NASA portable tent.

Inside we used a Definiti PD II projector and 'DigitalSky' software, a fully-functional dynamic solar system simulator for planetarium theaters proprietary to Sky-Skan (eg used in Adler, Smithsonian Air and Space's Einstein Planetarium). DigitalSky incorporates Digital Universe from AMNH, this latter part overlapping the content in D'nardo's GeoDome. Carter Emmart and I along with an educator, Suzanne, from AMNH, worked on a pre-planned show path for both domes, although as D'Nardo points out - neither of us could experience the other dome's presentation, but given the interactive nature of both systems, we could follow where the many student questions led us. My role with Sky-Skan as Director of Professional Development is to teach planetarium staff on the use of DigitalSky and modern astronomy.

Suzanne's strengths were in interactive school shows around the solar system, a great match for middle school kids, and everyone in the planetarium industry knows my background. We made a great tag team in the presentation, covering solar system and the larger scale of the universe and using the strengths of both DS and DU.

So what did the first family experience? Imagine first a small laptop and projector, with some grassy space next to it. The President and youngest daughter sat 3 feet in front of me next to the projector, Melia sat next to me at the console, and Michelle Obama was just behind us. We began leaving the Earth, and the President asked a question that had come up during their dinner that evening about the cause of seasons. Suzanna gave a great explanation, followed by a short demo on DigitalSky where I showed the changing sun illumination at the north pole of the Earth over a six month period. Happy with that, I backed away from the Solar System, showed recent images from the previous week's flyby of Mercury by the Messenger spacecraft, discussed light travel time from the Earth to the Moon, across the solar system, and in the sky was hanging Orion, which slowly distorted its shape. I told a personal story of teaching my own youngest daughter (a little older than Sasha) about Orion, by using glow stars on her ceiling for a month before taking her outside to see if she recognized anything. Immediately seeing a familiar pattern, she now calls it 'my Orion'. Perhaps there will be glow stars on the ceiling of the White House bedroom before long.

It was a singular and distinct honor to have the First Family visit the planetarium dome and a delight to work with everyone involved. You can read more of my comments and pictures in my blog posting at Astronomy.com