By Jeremy Clay

There are any amount of long, cumbersome words to describe the National Space Centre’s new film but let's start with a short one: wow.

We Are Astronomers, which launches on Saturday, is a entrancing new show for the centre’s digital planetarium, narrated by Doctor Who star David Tennant.

This beautifully-animated documentary, which plays out across a 360º screen, whisks visitors off on a million mile trip into space and still gets them home in plenty of time for Corrie.

In half-an-hour of educational eye-candy, the camera orbits a solitary telescope, far far from Earth. It swoops low over an isolated Chilean observatory. It lies back and admires the celestial razzle-dazzle of the Northern Lights.

And it dives headlong into the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider at Cern to hit speeds which would drain the blood from Jenson Button’s face. (You remember Cern: it’s that place the tabloids warned us about, where boffins were recklessly constructing a black hole to devour the world. Or Switzerland, at the very least.)

The result is an absorbing film, which handles complex space science with clarity, and infectious enthusiasm.

But when the lights first dim, as you settle back in the comfy reclining seats of the womb-like Space Theatre, and the soundtrack strikes up a lullaby on a wind-up music box, you may find yourself fighting an urge to suck your own thumb and take a short restorative nap.

That drowsiness won’t last. It’s not long before the film is spinning though the cosmos, making you feel woozier than Amy Winehouse on her birthday.

Kids will love it. Adults will love it. It’s entirely possible your pets would love it too, if only they were allowed in.

But old hippies may love it best of all. That scene that pings you along the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider is the swirly-whirliest burst of psychedelia you’ll see this side of a weekend with Timothy Leary.  Space Centre staff should brace themselves for occasional outbreaks of freaky dancing.

We Are Astronomy was made in Leicester by the animators of NSC Creative, whose innovative work is showing at more than 140 venues in 17 countries.

This latest offering is released to mark the International Year of Astronomy 2009, and reveals the global collaboration, technology and dedication required to tackle the unresolved questions of the Universe.

And while the Space Centre has never been an especially cheap place to visit, We Are Astronomers should take the sting out of handing over your cash.

After all, where else in the world could you guarantee a sighting of the Northern Lights, several times a day?

Info

We Are Astronomers launches at the National Space Centre on Saturday.

Adult entry to the NSC costs £12.72 and it’s £10.77 for children. A ticket for a family of four (maximum two adults) costs £39.87.  

For more information see weareastronomers.com