Manheim Township JANUARY 21, 2026
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Stars Always Align at North Museum Planetarium
Don’t Snooze on a Good Night’s Sleep BY JEFF FALK
ovie actors Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington are Hollywood box office heavyweights. But if you want to view real stars on a really big screen, head to the North Museum’s planetarium. “It’s really nice to see when people get really excited for it,” said Cole Penkunas, who’s been the North Museum’s resident astronomer for two years. “It gets me really excited when people ask questions. It shows me they’re inter- Visitors to the North Museum’s planetarium enjoy an educational presentation. ested in science and astronomy. a really big scale. I think astron- education out there. The goal is They’re excited about something omy just being the study of the to educate about space and stars stars is just very appealing to a lot in fun and immersive ways.” I’m excited about.” Based on a rotating schedule, Simply put, the planetarium is of people. A lot of people want to one of the most popular attractions explore the world. Earth has been the planetarium offers about 15 at a place - the North Museum of well charted, and now people are to 20 different shows for adults and kids throughout the year, Nature and Science, located at looking up for new stuff.” The unidirectional planetarium including “Night Sky Tours” and 400 College Ave., Lancaster - that has so many interesting exhibits at the North Museum is physi- other seasonal presentations. to experience. Admission to the cally made up of 70 seats and a That’s a total of more than 240 planetarium, which offers shows 40-foot-diameter dome. A projec- of the 30- to 40-minute presentamainly on Saturdays and Sundays tion system uses special lenses to tions annually. The planetarium also periodiat 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., is included portray images of stars, galaxies, with admission to the Nor th moons, constellations and other cally offers shows on dinosaurs and celestial bodies on the auditori- super volcanoes, as well as select Museum. documentaries. “For me, there’s definitely a cool- um’s ceiling. “I think we have a really good “It ’s more of a traditional ness factor to it,” said Penkunas. “I think some of it is because we movie-style planetarium where understanding of our solar system want to know where we exist in everyone faces the same way,” as it exists now,” said Penkunas. the universe. Astronomy can tell said Penkunas, a resident of “We have a good understanding of us a lot about physics, about the Lititz. “The main thing with the the sun. But there are still a lot of Earth and the nature of reality on planetarium is to get more space questions. We have a really good
The importance of sleep to a human’s overall health and well-being can’t be overstated. Both a societal problem and an individual problem - both a cause and an effect - sleep disorders are fairly common. But the good news is that at its most basic level, quality of sleep can be improved through relatively minor adjustments and common-sense measures. “ We have absolutely made progress in this area,” said Masood Ahmad, a physician who is certified in sleep medicine and pulmonary disease by the American Board of Internal Medicine. “We understand sleep apnea better. We’re diagnosing more cases, and we’re managing them better. Now people understand it better. Everyone knows sleep is important.” Ahmad practices sleep medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Sleep Lab at 1575 Highlands Drive, Lititz. The sleep lab evaluates, assesses, diagnoses and prov ides p ers onaliz e d treatments for individuals experiencing a wide range of sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, narcolepsy, sleepwalking, sleeptalking, insomnia and restless legs syndrome. “We send patients to the sleep lab to diagnosis their sleep disorders,” said Ahmad. “We have to do the sleep studies to see how they sleep. Most of the times it’s nighttime studies for sleep apnea, but sometimes we do studies to see how sleepy they are during the day. We want to
See Planetarium pg 3
See Sleep Lab pg 4
BY JEFF FALK
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