Planetarium – Cosmic Castaways

Show is 7:30pm – 8:30pm.

Doors will open at 7:00 PM and will be closed during
the program with no late admittance.

No food, drink, or gum/candy is allowed in the
planetarium. Children must be 5 years or older to attend,
Kids are ages 5-12, Seniors are ages 60 years+

Parking fees are waived on that night if parked in lot
next to the stadium off of Mt Vernon.

On Thursday evening, February 19th, from 7:30 to 8:30 PM, the William M Thomas Planetarium will present “Cosmic Castaways” from the Ward Beecher Planetarium.

The one-hour show will begin with a short tour of the evening sky using the planetarium’s Goto Chronos star projector followed by the 20-minute all-dome presentation from Ward Beecher Planetarium called “Cosmic Castaways” using our Spitz SciDome projector. This show is about the discovery and research about stars scattered between the galaxies—stars flung out when galaxies collide as may happen to our solar system when the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy collide in the future. Recent research has shown that there may be MORE stars between the galaxies scattered by these collisions than there are stars inside the galaxies! The production and distribution of this full-dome show was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Included in the presentation will be a short public service announcement “Losing the Dark”, a collaboration of Loch Ness Productions and the International Dark-Sky Association about the vanishing treasure of a dark sky filled with stars. Light pollution not only threatens astronomy, it disrupts wildlife, and affects human health.