Students roll out inflatable universe

If there's one thing Sisters High School science teacher Rima Givot loves to do, it is teach astronomy to her students - and to anyone else who will listen. That's the reason she keeps the universe rolled up and stored away in the high school.

Last week, she got her students Amy Hills and Rylee Funk to give her a hand hauling her portable planetarium - with attached universe - into the school's conference room, hook it to the air compressor and in a huff-and-a-puff, it was ready to go.

Givot and her students, many of them members of the Sisters High School Astronomy Club, are getting the jump on the upcoming Science Fair to be held March 17. That's when she and her students will be using the inflatable planetarium to teach anyone who crawls inside about what's in the dark sky over our heads at night.

In addition to helping the people of Sisters Country recognize and understand the coming and going of the objects in our night sky, Givot also uses the portable planetarium to take part in RECON - Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network.

This is a unique citizen science research opportunity that engages students, teachers and residents from over 50 communities in the western United States to investigate the outer solar system.