e-Planetarium shows surround participants with stunning visual effects. Explore the universe or just our planet. We offer a variety of shows to appeal to different ages.
Earth’s Wild Ride
for grades 2 and up
Imagine Earth were a distant place you once called home but could never visit again. What would you remember most about the planet, and how would you describe it to your grandchildren?
Set on the surface of the Moon in the year 2081, a grandfather and his grandchildren watch a solar eclipse from scenic cliffs overlooking their Moon colony. Conversation leads to contrasts between the Moon, the only home his grandchildren have ever known, and the Earth, where the grandfather has spent most of his life.
As they watch the Moon’s shadow move across the Earth, the grandfather tells stories of crashing asteroids, erupting volcanoes, roaring dinosaurs, electrifying lightning and booming thunder. Each experience begins with a telescope view of the dynamic Earth in stark contrast with the unchanging lunar landscape.
Earth’s Wild Ride is like many tales shared by grandparents over the centuries, except “the old country” is really another planet–always visible from the Moon base, but totally unlike the grandchildren’s world. While learning about eclipses, the ice age, Earth’s water cycle, and differences between the Earth and the Moon, the audience is taken on a roller-coaster-like ride through canyons of raging rivers and hot flowing lava. Adventure and appreciation for home fill this 20-minute journey back to the Earth.
Impact!
for grades 6 and up
Impact! is a planetarium show that teaches about meteors, meteorites, asteroids, and comets. It includes results from recent NASA missions and about the dangers meteors and asteroids can post to life on Earth. It shows the effects of the Chicxulub and Tunguska events, plus the Pallasite impact that resulted in the Brenham meteorite fall, and describes ways that asteroid hunters seek new objects in the solar system. It also explains how ground penetrating radar is used to find meteorites that have survived to Earth’s surface.
Back to the Moon for Good (Google LUNAR XPRIZE)
for grades 6 and up
This show reviews early lunar exploration, including manned and unmanned missions. Current missions are highlighted, explaining new discoveries and their potential impact on mankind. Then, the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition is introduced, and several competing teams explain the probe they are designing. Finally, a possible lunar colony is depicted. An informative show with incredible graphics. More details available here.
From Earth to the Universe
for grades 8 and up
This show begins with a brief history of astronomy, from the ancient Greeks, to Copernicus and Galileo, to the Hubble telescope, and more. Each planet of our solar system is visited (along with some of the more noteworthy moons), and then stunning images of nebulas, galaxies, novas, and more. More details available here.
We Choose Space
for grades 6 and up
We Choose Space is a show for students and adults “who dream of space and wonder about human spaceflight after the Shuttle. It’s a show filled with real adventures for the near frontier. Positive, possible, and exciting–this is a promise we can make to our children, our future astronauts.”
Flight Adventures
Discover the science of flight through the eyes of a young girl and her grandfather as they explore how birds, kites, planes, and models fly. Learn about the history and future plans of flight and how NASA is discovering new and safer ways to travel with the help of future engineers and aviators.
Saturn, the Ring World
for grades 2 and up
Saturn is the true “Lord of the Rings”. After nearly seven years in transit, the two-story Cassini-Huygens spacecraft began orbiting Saturn on July 1, 2004. Cassini continues to explore Saturn and its moons during its extended mission, while the Huygens probe has landed on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The Cassini Saturn encounter began with a flyby of Saturn’s farthest moon, Phoebe. See Saturn up-close and all-around-you inside our dome theater.
It’s About Time
for grades 3 and up
It’s About Time takes you from the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro to an orbiting geosynchronous space station. As the Earth gets smaller below you, your clocks stay the same, and we view the changes that days and seasons cause on Earth.
At the top, look at the wonders of the universe through a major telescope, then see it as it really is today by viewing through a wormhole that shortens the distance that light must travel to get to you. It’s About Time talks about the cycles that rule our planet and our lives, and ends with the entire time since the Big Bang compressed into a single day.