From left are Carson Hunter, Braxton Studabaker, Jack Collins and Noah Beckner. They make up one of six groups of Wawasee Middle School students who have been giving presentations about stars and constellations in the school’s planetarium. All are eighth-graders with the exception of Beckner, who is a seventh-grader.

SYRACUSE — Several Wawasee Middle School students are exploring the sky and using the school’s planetarium to show to others what they have learned.

A total of 19 students in the Warrior Time class taught by Ryan Edgar, robotics director and Project Lead the Way instructor at WMS, have been researching constellations and finding groups of stars visible to the naked eye. Those constellations include Northern Circumpolar (those found in the sky year round) and winter constellations. Spring constellations may be added later.

Constellations are essentially groups of stars forming recognizable patterns, some of which are mythological figures.

“It’s kind of mapping the sky for people,” Edgar said. The project was started this school year in response to a determination made by the state more community involvement was needed at the school, he noted.

WMS has a planetarium with a replica of the sky, Edgar said. The students have been researching the different stars in the constellations and have given presentations roughly 45 minutes in length in the planetarium to their family and friends, as well as Wawasee Community School Corp. staff. Presentations will soon be scheduled for public groups.

Edgar noted the students are running the planetarium controls and doing the presentations in addition to their research. Joshua Metcalf, a seventh-grader, said he has learned the positions of the stars in the sky and has researched the Greek legends about the constellations. Connor Byrd, also a seventh-grader, has learned about the different constellations and how to present the information to others.

The 19 students have been divided into six groups for giving presentations.