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
A whirlwind time travel adventure back to the epoch of the dinosaurs! We have to tell you that we’ve been waiting eons to announce that we have a full dome, computer animated dinosaurs show! A larger than life extravaganza rife with roaring monsters from the ancient age: bounding, stomping, flying, hunting, and foraging frenetically above us. Propel yourself back through the epochs to explore an Earth teeming with Pteradons, Triceratrops and, of course, the ferocious and therefore wonderfully marketable T-Rex And, if we can say so, this is NOT your great great great grandfather’s dinosaur show with slides and lethargic Sunday afternoon nature special narration. Instead, we’re embarking on a causality violating adventure through time to discover a planet dominated by the largest land animals that ever set claw to topsoil. Come back to the Southworth Planetarium and then venture back to the Mesozoic era for a personal odyssey through the realm of the dinosaurs. Show length: 43 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
Join Charles Darwin on an adventurous voyage of exploration circumnavigating the World with the HMS Beagle, to the Galapagos islands where he got inspired for his later theory of transmutation by Natural Selection. In Victorian times many physical phenomena were already discovered and described by natural laws, but life’s most eloquent mechanism was still unknown: How could new species arise to replace those lost in extinction? It was time for someone to stand up and come forth with a Naturalist explanation of this mystery of mysteries. From the comfort of Down House in Kent, Darwin himself will explain the mechanism of Natural Selection to the audience, and support it by showing many beautiful examples in nature. Witness the thrill of scientific discovery by seeing the world through Darwin’s eyes, make observations of the most beautiful natural scenery and let the pieces of the scientific puzzle slowly but surely fall into place. Show length: 41 minutes
We are delighted to announce that the “Season of Light” holiday program is returning to the Southworth Planetarium in full dome format. NPR’S Noah Adams narrates this omni-dome planetarium program about the history and astronomy of the holiday season. What are the origins of the solstice festivals and Santa Claus? Why do we celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1st? What is the history of Hannukkah? “Season of Light” explores the rich and beautiful history of our holiday traditions. Toward the end of the show, we focus on the Star of Bethlehem. If it were a natural occurrence, what could it have been? An exploding star? A conjunction of planets? Perhaps a comet or some other celestial object. Show length: 31 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
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
Wayfinders opens by telling the story of the spread of people out of Southeast Asia throughout the Pacific over thousands of years. They discovered thousands of islands and learned to move between them using only the signs of the natural world around them, including the stars. Eventually they reached the islands of Hawai’i and sailed vast distances back and forth from other islands. Around 600 years ago these long ocean crossing voyages to and from Hawai’i had all but stopped as the populations became self-sustaining. The knowledge and skill built over thousands of years faded from cultural memory into only legends and stories.
Fast forward to the 1970’s, when the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance was building after nearly 200 years of suppression by colonial powers. It was at this time that the Polynesian Voyaging Society was founded by native Hawaiian artist Herb Kane, sailor Tommy Holmes, and anthropologist Ben Finney in 1973. They designed and built a replica double-hulled canoe in the spirit of those used hundreds of years before. Their intention was to sail it to Tahiti and back in the wake of their ancestors, without modern navigation instrumentation. They named their wa’a (canoe) Hōkūle’a after the star of joy, also known as Arcturus. They asked Mau Piailug of the island of Satawal in Micronesia to be their navigator and he agreed, recognizing that the traditional art of wayfinding was in danger of disappearing entirely. In 1976, he successfully navigated Hōkūle’a across 2,600 miles, from Hawai’i to Tahiti without using modern instruments. Show length: 24 minutes