Seeing a Photon's journey
2025-07-26 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
distant star, before travelling across the vast expanse of space to land on someone’s retina

Rusty Rocket’s Last Blast
2025-07-28 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-29 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Join Rusty Rocket and his band of rocket rookies as they explore the solar system. Fly across Saturn’s rings, soar along a Martian canyon; delve deep into the solar interior! Show length: 33 minutes

Planet Nine
2025-07-28 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-07-29 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-07-30 14:00 - 15:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
In July 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft gave us our first close look at Pluto, the most famous dwarf planet in the outskirts of our Solar System. The flyby was big news, and the data sent back to Earth revealed a world far more complex than anyone realized. Are there more worlds out there, beyond Pluto? What might such a world be like?

Undiscovered Worlds
2025-07-28 14:00 - 15:00, 2025-07-30 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
This show explores a timeless question: Do other planets like Earth exist?
Through the discovery of exoplanets, the hundreds of planets that have been found orbiting stars beyond the Sun, we have learned that our solar system is not alone in the universe and have had to redefine our understanding of planets and solar systems.
With rapidly improving technology and endeavors like the Kepler Telescope, the discovery of exoplanets represents one step closer to the possibility of finding an Earth-like world.

Traveling with Light
2025-07-31 11:00 - 12:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Through the conversation between a child and his mother, the planetarium show “Travelling with Light” tackles the importance of light in all areas of our lives. The movie presents different scenarios that reveal the complexity of light and its direct influence on our planet.

The Cowboy Astronomer
2025-07-31 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
The Cowboy Astronomer is a skillfully woven tapestry of star tales and Native American legends, combined with constellation identification, star-hopping, and astronomy tidbits — all told from the unique viewpoint of a cowboy astronomer who has traveled the world plying his trade and learning the sky along the way.
The basic premise of The Cowboy Astronomer is simple: we’re in the Western outdoors, listening to star legends and cowboy tales around the campfire. Our cowboy astronomer gives us his perspective of the night sky, and the things he’s found out over a lifetime of stargazing. He talks about star colors and temperatures — and we see how blue stars are hotter than red stars by the chili pepper ratings beneath them! We find the Andromeda Galaxy by hitting a first-base foul out of the park of the Great Baseball Diamond In The Sky. Along the way, we learn about young stars and supernovae, and what various cultures called the Pleiades.
We hear two Native American star tales: the Fisher story of the cruel chieftain holding the birds of summer captive, and the Devil’s Tower tale of the Seven Indian Maidens and the Bear. We see the Anasazi pictographs of the 1054 supernova, and Sirius rising over Wyoming’s Medicine Wheel. The show ends on a thoughtful, philosophical manner, as our cowboy muses about the constellation where he wants to head when he departs this Earth. He decides on Cygnus, for the black hole it contains.
There’s never been a program like The Cowboy Astronomer. It’s a fresh new perspective in the planetarium medium; a unique, different, and thoroughly entertaining show unlike anything you’ve seen or heard before. It’ll make your audiences laugh, it’ll tug at their heart strings — all the while teaching about the universe and humanity’s relationship with the stars.

Travelling With Light
2025-08-01 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-08-02 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States

The Sun Our Living Star
2025-08-01 13:00 - 14:00 | Massachusetts
The Sun has shone on our world for four and a half billion years. The light that warms our skin today has been felt by every person who has ever lived. It is our nearest star and our planet’s powerhouse, the source of the energy that drives our winds, our weather and all life.

The Little Star That Could
2025-08-04 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-08-06 11:00 - 12:00 | Massachusetts
A little yellow star travels through the galaxy in search of planets to give it its name. During his journey, this star learns about the many types of stars that live in the galaxy. Hot blue stars; cool red stars; double stars, large stars and more.

Moons Worlds of Mystery
2025-08-04 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-05 11:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-06 14:00 - 15:00 | Massachusetts
When you consider the solar system, you often think of the Sun and its planets. But what about moons? What role do they play? Find out in Moons: Worlds of Mystery, a show from the Charles Hayden Planetariumt

Supermassive Black Hole
2025-08-04 14:00 - 15:00, 2025-08-08 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-08 19:00 - 20:00, 2025-08-09 13:00 - 14:00 | Massachusetts
Super Massive Black Hole
Leading scientists, industrial experts, and professionals in science dissemination come together to combine state-of-the-art observations, simulations and innovative tools to compare theory with observation, and shed light on the physics of black hole formation in the context of galaxy evolution.

Destination Solar System
2025-08-05 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-06 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-07 13:00 - 14:00 | Massachusetts
Destination Solar System
Hop aboard the Space Express in the year 2096 to explore the Sun, moon and major planets. Join Jesse, your highly enthusiastic tour guide and Max, the omni-competent on-board computer, on an odyssey around our dynamic solar system.

Mysteries of Your Brain
2025-08-08 11:00 - 12:00 | Massachusetts
Mysteries of Your Brain
A curious girl and her crow companion take an adventure into the brain, exploring how it works and what makes it special. Zoom along neurons to see how your brain makes you you and how we each have the power to change our brains. A Bell Museum Production. Made possible through support from the Richard M. Schulze Foundation and Boston Scientific

Dinosaurs at Dusk
2025-08-11 11:00 - 12:00 | Massachusetts
Dinosaurs at Dusk
A whirlwind time travel adventure back to the epoch of the dinosaurs! A larger than life extravaganza rife with roaring monsters from the ancient age: bounding, stomping, flying, hunting, and foraging frenetically above us.

The Sun Our Living Star
2025-08-11 13:00 - 14:00 | Massachusetts
The Sun Our Living Star
The Sun has shone on our world for four and a half billion years. The light that warms our skin today has been felt by every person who has ever lived. It is our nearest star and our planet’s powerhouse, the source of the energy that drives our winds, our weather and all life

Big Astronomy
2025-08-11 14:00 - 15:00 | Massachusetts
Journey to three world-class observatories in Chile’s rugged Andes Mountains and arid Atacama Desert— remote, extreme regions that happen to have the perfect conditions for astronomical research. Along the way, you’ll meet an inspiring cast of astronomers, engineers, technicians, and support staff who keep these mega-machines running.
