Astronomy: 3000 Years of Stargazing
Astronomy is often called the “oldest science.” This program follows the progression of astronomy to its infancy with Stonehenge, Thales and Ptolemy to the modern day developments of the Hubble Space Telescope. A perfect blend of science and history. Show length: 34 minutes
How did our solar system originate? What chain of events led to its creation? Just as detectives look for traces of evidence to solve a mystery, astronomers analyze the evidence that points to the formation of the Sun and planets. In particular, they study the influence that impacts and collisions had on the worlds of the solar system. The most dramatic evidence for this collisional history of solar system evolution are the impact craters found on almost all the bodies in the solar system, including Earth. These surface scars tell us the formation history of planets, moons, and rings was violent. Yet today, we live in a relatively stable solar system, made possible by the shattering collisions that shaped our worlds. Show length: 21 minutes
Explore the work being done around the globe to help make the dream of getting humans to Mars a reality. Fly through the International Space Station, where astronauts are already living and working in space. Follow the rockets and vehicles that will take humans beyond the Moon and, one day, all the way to Mars! Travel along as we imagine this remarkable journey. Show length: 32 minutes
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. See solar flares, Martian canyons, exotic outer worlds moons and even glide through Saturn’s magnificent ring system. Show length: 33 minutes
The omni-dome “Eight Planets and Counting” program guides you through the solar system: from our parent star, the Sun, out to the realm beyond Neptune. Along the way, we’ll visit each of the eight planets in turn, we’ll explore the Moon, and we’ll fly through the asteroid belt. Show length: 32 minutes
Exoplanets: Discovering New Worlds
This exciting new show describes how astronomers search for planets circling other stars. It explains the two main methods they use: studying the minute “wobbles” of stars and detecting flickers in a star’s brightness. Only a few Earth-like planets have been found, and as of yet, no extraterrestrial life has been found on any of the worlds discovered so far. Yet, it’s likely to be only a matter of time before a world teeming with life shows up in astronomy surveys of stars in our galactic neighborhood.
Right now, we know of only one world where life exists: ours! But it is likely there are other places in the galaxy where life has evolved and thrived. What if that life is intelligent? Has it tried to contact us? This show speculates on the possibility of such life, and points out nearby civilizations may already know about us — from our radio and TV broadcast signals. Show length: 30 minutes
Fragile Planet gives audiences an astronaut’s view of Earth, highlighting Earths unique regions. The journey then continues to the Moon, Mars, and beyond the Milky Way to search for habitats that might host extraterrestrial life. The show’s theme — that Earth is the only known haven for life, and thus is important to protect — echoes the themes of biodiversity and sustainability.
The visual foundation of the show lies in scientific visualization. From the high-resolution satellite imagery of Earth, the positions of galaxies more than 50 million light years distant, the three-dimensional terrain of Valles Marineris on Mars to the locations of extrasolar planetary systems in interstellar space, everything audiences will see in Fragile Planet has a basis in astronomers’ best understanding of the Universe. Show length: 25 minutes
From Dream to Discovery: Inside NASA
Immerse your audiences in the adventure and extremes of spacecraft engineering in From Dream To Discovery: Inside NASA, a 2015 fulldome show from the Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science, Boston. This fascinating 30-minute show about space engineering begins with an exploration of the Hubble Space Telescope, with its many intricate parts that must work together to help this observatory achieve great things. From there, we explore the James Webb Space Telescope, currently under construction and testing at NASA. Show length: 30 minutes
Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided incredible images in unprecedented detail to astronomers, and made an astonishing array of discoveries — from nearby objects in the solar system to the most distant galaxies at limits of the observable universe. We’ve taken the best and most exciting Hubble images and woven them into an engaging story of cosmic exploration, bringing the wonders of the universe to audiences everywhere. HUBBLE Vision 2 is a fascinating tour of the cosmos — from Earth orbit. Show length: 30 minutes
IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System
Where does the solar system end? What defines the boundary separating the solar system and the interstellar medium? The IBEX (interstellar boundary explorer) craft captures energized neutral particles originating from the heliosphere: the bubble enclosing the solar system. The IBEX probe uses these particle captures to construct an image of the heliosphere. How does the probe work? Who built it and how? Join us for this engaging full dome program and learn what lurks at the outer edges of our solar system. Show length: 25 minutes
The moon has inspired humanity scientifically, philosophically, mathematically and poetically. This new planetarium program takes us to see the moon up close! We explore its terrain, understand its origin and learn how it has influenced us throughout human history. Show length: 26 minutes
In “Incoming,” audiences will discover how asteroids and comets have collided with our planet throughout history, changing the course of life on Earth and shaping the world we know today. From the comfort of a planetarium seat, viewers will embark on a dynamic journey on the trail of asteroids and comets, get an up close look at the advanced technologies that allow scientists to detect asteroids before they reach Earth, and visualize historic space events billions of years in the making—all within an immersive, all-digital dome that brings the captivating story of our cosmic origins to life like never before.
Narrated by George Takei, Incoming! explores the past, present, and future of our Solar System and the landmark discoveries scientists have made by sending spacecraft to visit tiny worlds. Show length: 26 minutes
A program about mapping the stars. The European Space Agency’s “GAIA” project intends to produce the most comprehensive three dimensional map of our sector of the galaxy. We’ll know the distances, sizes, temperatures, life spans, exo planet locations and more about a billion stars in our part of the Milky Way. Join us as we discover how these modern day celestial map makers are developing a new view of the heavens. Show length: 31 minutes
A beam of light leaves the Andromeda Galaxy and travels across the void of intergalactic space. On a planet located in a nearby galaxy, intelligent life evolves. As the light speeds across the light years, over the course of centuries, the primitives on the planet form cultures and civilizations — and begin to wonder about the universe surrounding them. Their awareness of the night sky increases, as the beam of light draws nearer to their planet. When the light reaches the Earth, some of the descendants of the early hunters have just escaped the bonds of their world’s gravity, and visited the Moon.
In modern times, scientific study of space help the planet’s current inhabitants to understand the properties of light, and the ways that understanding shapes our further knowledge of the universe. Show length: 30 minutes
In the first section, “Homage,” we trace Mars through history — from an “incantation” of the various War God forms given by different cultures, to the early observations of Schiaparelli and Lowell, and the infamous “canals” which led to science-fiction stories about Martians. We hear excerpts from H. G. Wells “War Of The Worlds” and Edgar Rice Burroughs’s “Barsoom” novels. MarsQuest details the Mars of our time — as seen in the night sky, through binoculars and telescopes, and from our Mars explorations. Mission findings from more than a quarter century of spacecraft missions feature reports on Mars weather, climate, and areology. We compare the climate and terrain of Earth and Mars, and present the current thinking about the areologic history of the planet, and a rationale for future exploration. Show length: 41 minutes
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 Planetarium of the Museum of Science, Boston. It explores the many and varied satellites that exist, delves into what they look like and what they contribute to our knowledge of the solar system — a hundred known satellites throughout the solar system, orbiting five other planets and even some asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects. Show length: 35 minutes
“Planet Nine” gives audiences an inside look at the painstaking process of planet-searching, as told by CalTech’s Mike Brown, discoverer of Eris and Haumea. Throughout this fascinating show, Brown talks about unusual orbits and describes nights of painstaking robotic searches for new planets. His is a story of modern planet-hunting techniques that have uncovered many new worlds out beyond Neptune. Discoveries of new worlds “out there” also give insight into their distances, orbits, and compositions. In addition, those orbits give intriguing clues to the existence of what may be a very large, so-far-undiscovered world deep in the Kuiper Belt. Join in this fascinating tale of observation, discovery, and analysis — and hear firsthand about the life of a modern planet hunter searching out his prey. Show length: 27 minutes
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. Narrated by Baxter Black. Show length: 37 minutes
Take an adventure through time, as we explore the past and imagine the future of the cosmos. Witness the birth of the Universe, the doom of the dinosaurs, and be there for the first landing on the Moon! Each TimeSpace travel story is presented as a destination to be experienced as if you are there. Show length: 28 minutes
Touching the Edge of the Universe
“Touching the Edge of the Universe”, made on the occasion of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, tells an exciting story similar to a motion picture with live actors and stunning visual effects. The show has been produced in cooperation between the Euopean Space Agency (ESA) and a grouping of planetariums in Europe. The show takes the audience on a breathtaking voyage of discovery, from Galileo’s 17th century Tuscan villa to the tense countdown, launch and orbiting of the next generation of space telescopes – and out into the universe. These complex space telescopes will look at very distant events in space that our eyes can not see. They will observe the birth of stars and planets and look back to the very beginning of time. Touching the Edge of the Universe brings the secrets of the distant cosmos direct to your audience! Show length: 27 minutes
Totality!
Prepare for the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse! How do such eclipses happen? Why are they so rare? What will we see? This show delves into the dynamics of solar eclipses. Before you venture out to observe the April 2024 total solar eclipse, see “Totality!”
Galileo did not invent the telescope, but he was the first person to use the newly invented device to observe the sky. Through these observations the Italian philosopher-scientist concluded that the heavens were not perfect and immutable: he observed lunar mountains, phases of Venus, Jupiter’s moons, and even sunspots. The two small pieces of glass revealed a Universe that was far more complex than previously assumed. The Two Small Pieces of Glass program shows how telescopes work; and how astronomers have used them to scrutinize the structures within our cosmos. Show length: 23 minutes
From 1979 to 1989 the Voyager 1 and 2 missions explored the wonders of the outer solar system. The Voyager Encounters is the definitive summary of results returned by the two spacecraft. It recaps the flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in one convenient, thorough documentary. Show length: 43 minutes