PLANETARIUM HAS KIDS STARRY-EYED : MINI-OBSERVATORY TOURS SCHOOLS.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

The stars came out Friday morning at University Elementary School.

Day turned into night when the school's fifth-graders packed into a portable planetarium to learn about the wonders to be found in the heavens.

There were so many wonders about constellations, star formation and other cosmological mysteries, in fact, that 10-year-old Richard Billett intends to take out his till now largely unused telescope to pick out a few that were pointed out on the large, parachute-like surface of the planetarium by instructor Robert Moheit.

``I might look out and see if I can see the summer triangle,'' said the fifth-grader, referring to three stars that should be found somewhere in the western skies about 8 p.m. ``I just want to see if he would be right and see if I can find any constellations.''

The planetarium came to the school courtesy of Moheit's Simi Valley-based Stargazers Planetarium, which he takes to schools from San Luis Obispo up north to San Diego down south.

``It's really neat - it's like having the Griffith Observatory at your own school,'' said Moheit, 42.

He usually sets up the 21-foot by 21-foot planetarium, which rises about 10-1/2-feet high, in schools' cafeterias and auditoriums, he said. The planetarium can hold a class of about 35 students.

An amateur astronomer, Moheit said he visited a planetarium - the Griffith Observatory, as it turns out - for the first time when he was a high school sophomore.

``I would like to have seen a planetarium when I was younger,'' he said.

In fact, he firmly believes that youngsters should learn about the cosmos at an early age, and his traveling planetarium makes it possible to reach the youngest of them, right down to preschoolers.

This is important, he said, because humanity's future lies in the cosmos.

``People are destined to be out there,'' Moheit said. ``It is the final frontier: It's a new frontier to explore, and these kids are going to be the space travelers of the future.''

Moheit explained such things as what stars are, why they appear to be different colors, and what constellations are.

``If they learn constellations, it's sort of like learning a road map to the sky.''

Young Richard obviously picked up much of Moheit's passion for the cosmos. Interested in computer programming, the youngster now says he'll seriously consider astronomy as a profession. He might even be an astronaut.

``I might like to go into space and look at the stars from there,'' he said.

What if he discovered a new star or other previously unseen heavenly body? ``I don't really know, but if I did I would probably name it the Richard star or Richard's comet,'' he said.

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Photo: (1--color) Robert Moheit of the Simi Valley-based Stargazers Planetarium talks to University Elementary School students about the cosmos.

(2--color) Robert Moheit uses a flashlight to point to planets inside the portable planetarium set up at University Elementary School.

Jeremy Greene/Special to the Daily News