GLENDALE : Giving Kids a Closer Look at Starry Skies

A big bubble.

A time machine.

A hamburger with pickles?

Well, no.

The object in question was an inflatable, silver-domed planetarium set up in a building behind Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School in Glendale, where 29 kindergartners squeezed through an entry tube for a special science lesson Monday.

The youngsters were the first of 160 students to watch Monday’s 45-minute to one-hour presentation about stars and constellations. The 460 other children on campus are expected to tour the portable planetarium by week’s end.

On Monday morning, students crawled into the 21-by-21-by-10 1/2-foot balloon through a dark, tubelike entrance. Once inside, they watched images of stars, meteors, constellations and a map of the world--all accompanied by children’s music.

Robert C. Moheit, who owns Stargazers Planetarium Co. and runs the program, color coded some of the stars to explain that they have ages too, just like people.

“The yellow stars are like the sun,” Moheit said before darkness surrounded the structure, which is made of fireproof vinyl and nylon fabric. “Red stars are like your grandpa at home. They’re older stars.”

Students squealed in awe when Moheit flashed on a view of the constellations, pointing to the North Star, the Big Dipper and the various mythological characters--such as Hercules and Pegasus--that the ancient Greeks drew by connecting certain stars together.

The image of the earth appeared, and Moheit led students in the song, “It’s a Small World.” “We went back into time,” said Jessica Davis, 5, after exiting the puffed-up planetarium. “It was so exciting.”

John Potter, 5, said he initially thought that the silver shape in the room was “a hamburger with pickles in it.”

“I like the part where I saw the Earth moving,” the boy said. “I learned that you could see different stars at night.”

The school’s Parent-Teacher Assn. is paying $275 a day for the portable balloon, which when deflated can fit into a gym bag.

Linda Burk, chairwoman of the PTA’s cultural arts program, said bringing the blow-up planetarium to school was cheaper than sending students on field trips to the real thing.

It would cost more than $3,200 to take the entire student body to a planetarium, said Principal Janice Hanada.

“I think it was worth the money,” Burk said of the inflatable version. “It’s a better way to allow everybody to see it.”