In which science is thrifty

This is a photograph of sunspots

Yes, really sunspots, not dust on the lens.

which I took through the eyepiece of this ridiculously expensive telescope

Yes, I'm surprised they let me do it, too.

when we visited the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, New Hampshire earlier this week.

The Observatory was just one of the cool things at the Center. The other really cool thing is the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium.

Our Place in Space was geared to really little kids.
Tonight's Sky was presented by Bob the Retired Physics Teacher
Black Holes was narrated by John de Lancie.
(Q in Star Trek: Next Generation)

Neatnik liked Our Place in Space, loved Tonight's Sky, and was rather creeped out by Black Holes. She really hated how they used an "astronaut" to show how gravity would affect a body near the event horizon and how the person would dissolve into atomic components and get sucked into the black hole.

Hmm... perhaps Dr McCoy saw the same program as a kid and that's why he hates transporters so much...

While we were poking around the planetarium's web site last week, I came across the ticketing information. As I totted up the entry dollars in my head, I realized that if we were to purchase the super-duper plus family plus membership plan, a mere two visits and a few planetarium shows would put us in the black on the investment.

Imagine how pleased I was to learn that not only would they discount the tickets 10% due to my exalted educator status, we can also use said membership card to gain entry to a whole host of other museums around the country, including at least a half dozen or more within easy day trip driving distance from home.

Not just cool stuff and lots of learning, but thrifty as well!