10 ways to cool off

Summer took its sweet time getting here, but now that we’re in the dog days, it’s time to seek some relief. You could always sit on the lawn with the hose running over your head. Or you could try some of these alternative ways to chill in the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer (with a tip of the baseball cap to Worcester songwriter Charles Tobias).

Planetarium show

It doesn’t get much colder than outer space (try minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit), but there’s no need to worry about frostbite when you lounge back in the cool dark of this state-of-the-art planetarium theater at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, N.H., to watch one of the newest shows, “Ice Worlds.’’ Explore the north and south poles of our planet without breaking a sweat, and let the images zip you away to the nether reaches of the solar system to view heavenly bodies that are truly cool, whether or not they have ice. (Think about how chilly it must be on Saturn’s moon, Titan, to sail on oceans of swamp gas.) 2 Institute Drive, 603-271-7827, www.starhop.com. Adults $9, seniors and students $8, ages 3-12 $6. Planetarium shows $3 additional per person. See website for show schedule.