I was asked to coordinate the disability projects in Spain for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. In searching for ideas, I learned about a planetarium show for the blind in Argentina. My colleagues and I contacted the shows creator Sebastian Musso, and with his input we developed a tactile planetarium show. The shows key element is a half-sphere made of resin with constellations in relief on the surface. Each blind visitor is given one of these half-spheres so that they can feel the shape of the constellations, while listening to the planetarium presentation.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, somebody approached our group and said, Hey, you have this sky, why dont you make a tactile Moon? We said okay and spent the next year developing a model with craters and other features. Since then, we have made tactile models of Mars, Venus, and Mercury. And were now working on a model of Earth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is the original post:<\/p>\n
Q&A: Putting the Sky in Everyone's Hands - Physics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was asked to coordinate the disability projects in Spain for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. In searching for ideas, I learned about a planetarium show for the blind in Argentina. My colleagues and I contacted the shows creator Sebastian Musso, and with his input we developed a tactile planetarium show. Continue reading