The lights dim and the half-dome screen at the Taylor Planetarium begins to glow.

For the next 60 minutes, visitors will get a lesson in legend, science and American Indian mythology.

"Native American Skies" is among the longest-running shows at the Taylor Planetarium, located at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman.

While most of us are accustomed to viewing the sky through stories rooted in Greek mythology, "Native American Skies" presents the stars from an American Indian perspective, covering legends held by the Blackfeet, the Flathead, the Pawnee and the Navajo, among others.

"Native American Skies is the most traditional of our shows," said Martin Rollefson, assistant visitor services manager at the Museum of the Rockies. "It's performed live where most of the other shows are taped."

Once the auditorium goes dark the stars emerge, appearing as the northern hemisphere as seen from Montana.

At the center of the room sits the Digi-Star II projector. The screen above is 40 feet high and 60 feet across.

"There is some storytelling that goes on during the show," Martin said. "The narrator describes the constellations from an Indian point of view."

To the Navajo, the constellation Orion is seen as a woman with a stick planting corn. But to the Chinook, the belt and sword form two canoes, their paddlers racing to catch a salmon. As the story goes, the canoe in the sword is winning the race.

The Flathead see something else. While the belt represents a canoe, the stars around it, including the bright orange star Betelgeuse, represent the canoe's builders.

"They were building the large canoe on the shores of Flathead Lake so they could paddle across the lake together," the narrator reads. "But a storm was brewing on the lake, and Old Man Coyote raised them into the sky before they could paddle out and be drowned -- now we see them in the sky."

Across the Rocky Mountains on the foot of the prairie, the Flathead saw something different in the sky.

The famed nebula seen in Orion's sword looked to them like a "smoking" star, fuzzy to the eye.

"It represented a hero named Blood Clot, who slew monsters when the world was young," the story goes. "When his work was done, he went up into the sky and became Smoking Star."

Eric Loberg, the planetarium's theater operator, has worked at the facility for nearly eight years.

He's among the presenters who read from the script, describing the night sky from an American Indian perspective.

"Once you get to know the script real well, the shows are easier to do," Loberg said. "I've always wanted to work here. I've gone to all the planetarium shows since the day the planetarium opened."

One small cluster of stars, the Pleiades, is often mistaken for the Little Dipper. In Greek mythology, the Pleiades represent Seven Sisters, but to the Blackfeet Nation, they're seen instead as six brothers.

"Six brothers were angry because they did not get red buffalo calf robes in the spring like the other children," the narrator reads. "They went up into the sky and became the Pleiades. There, they persuaded the sun and moon to withhold rain from the people below."

Their request was answered. Drought came to the land below and the people cried out for help. Soon, the sun and moon restored the rain but the six brothers never came down from the sky.

The sky tour continues, taking viewers through the blue, dusty light surrounding the Pleiades.

The Crab Nebula soon appears, along with the remains of an exploded star, which went supernova on July 5, 1054.

The explosion was visible from Earth, even in the daytime, and may have been documented by American Indian tribes.

"In Chaco Canyon in the American Southwest is a rock picture that some people think is a recording of this supernova next to the crescent moon," the narrator reads.

The show is full of such fascinating details. But the planetarium serves more than a venue for entertainment.

"Planetariums are outlets for NASA, because no one really sees what NASA does," Loberg said. "They release great pictures but they don't begin to explain to the public what they mean. That's were the planetariums come in. We get to explain how fast the rockets go into space."

Other shows include "Seasonal Lights" and the "Dinosaur Chronicles." There are laser shows set to Dave Matthews and Pink Floyd, and another show tied to research conducted at MSU titled "Here Comes the Sun."

"We have a big solar department here at MSU, so we wrote that program jointly," Loberg said. "They're doing more with the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), and we've learned a lot with that sun program."