‘Voyagers’ Musical Highlights UW Planetarium Schedule During September

The University of Wyoming Harry C. Vaughan Planetarium will be a little more Broadway than blazar when it hosts a musical called “Voyagers” during September.

“We’re excited for the fall semester to commence and a full slate of planetarium programming through the month of September,” says Max Gilbraith, the planetarium’s coordinator. “Our highlight program for the month is a special, one-time live performance of the musical ‘Voyagers’ Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. This program is 90 minutes, and it is $10 to reserve seats.”

Gilbraith adds the rooftop observatory is available to the public after evening public shows.

To get tickets or receive more information about programs, email planetarium@uwyo.edu or leave a voicemail and a call-back phone number at (307) 766-6506. Tickets are $5 for the public or online tickets, and $3 for students, senior citizens, veterans, first responders and those under 18. Seating is free for children under 5.

Reservations or pre-purchase is not required, and walk-ins are welcome. Tickets can be purchased online with a credit card, reserved by email or voicemail, or purchased at the start of the show. Cash or check is accepted at the door. The planetarium, which seats 64, is in the basement of the Physical Sciences Building. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis outside of designated ADA/wheelchair seating.

To pay for tickets with a credit card, go to https://www.uwyo.edu/uwplanetarium/ticket.aspx. For a group larger than six, email the planetarium for a private show at https://uwyo.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bKuqIynOn7gFK2F. Tickets for private shows are the same as the public programs.

A film and special live talk for audiences will be featured each week. All programs are approximately an hour in length. As time allows, a portion of the show also may focus on a live sky tour or supporting information related to the film’s topic.

The September schedule is:

-- Friday, Sept. 1, 7 p.m.: “The Great American Eclipse of 2017.” Relive and celebrate the eclipse of 2017 that passed through Wyoming. Full-dome images of the eclipse, captured from the ground and air, and the science of eclipses will be shared with the audience. 

-- Saturday, Sept. 2, 2 p.m.: “Forward! To the Moon,” a full-dome movie. Narrator Kari Byron, from “Crash Test World” and “MythBusters,” takes viewers on a journey beyond Earth toward a sustainable future in space. NASA’s 21st century Artemis program is the next step in the mission to explore the universe and land the first woman and person of color on the moon. This film is produced by Fiske Planetarium in collaboration with Tend Studio.

-- Saturday, Sept. 2, 7 p.m.: “Liquid Sky: Women Who Rock,” a music-based light show. Enjoy a custom playlist of “out-of-this-world” music from top artists in genres of rock, indie, pop, electronic and more in 5.1 surround sound. The 4K-resolution planetarium sky will become a canvas of color, patterns and movement with cutting-edge music visualization software and live VJ talent.

-- Friday, Sept. 8, 8 p.m.: “Voyagers.” This program -- combining stunning immersive visuals with live musical theater -- presents a grand tour of the solar system. In 1977, NASA launched a mission -- Voyager -- that changed humanity forever. Two space probes were dispatched to explore the outer planets of our solar system, turning points of light into worlds more dynamic than ever imagined. This musical, infused with the danceable sounds of the 1970s and 1980s, tells the far-out story of a team of scientists that made major discoveries about our solar system and about what it means to be a human on a pale blue dot. This is a planetarium-specific musical created in collaboration with Fiske Planetariun. This performance is made possible through a grant from the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation.

-- Saturday, Sept. 9, 7 p.m.: “Liquid Sky: Rhythm and Blues,” a music-based light show. Enjoy a custom playlist of “out-of-this-world” music from genre artists in 5.1 surround sound. The 4K-resolution planetarium sky will become a canvas of color, patterns and movement with cutting-edge music visualization software and live VJ talent.

 -- Tuesday, Sept. 12, 7 p.m.: “Wyoming Skies.” The program provides an exploration of the stars, constellations, planets, meteor showers and other celestial phenomena visible from Wyoming for the season.

-- Friday, Sept. 15, 7 p.m.: “You Are a Star!” This program tracks energy and matter throughout all of time and space to trace it right to you. Discover how and why you are a star.

-- Saturday, Sept. 16, 2 p.m.: “Cosmic Origins Spectrograph,” a full-dome movie. This film highlights the current research of Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, the last instrument installed by NASA astronauts. COS allows an unprecedented view into the vast spaces between galaxies that surround the Milky Way.

-- Saturday, Sept. 16, 7 p.m.: “Liquid Sky: Pop,” a music-based light show. Enjoy a custom playlist of “out-of-this-world” music from top artists in genres of rock, indie, pop, electronic and more in 5.1 surround sound. The 4K-resolution planetarium sky will become a canvas of color, patterns and movement with cutting-edge music visualization software and live VJ talent.

-- Friday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m.: “Keeping Time.” Our ancestors were able to predict eclipses, the seasons and the motion of the planets with primitive instruments and observations long before the invention of mechanical clocks, telescopes or other modern tools. Learn how the stars, planets and sun all served to calibrate the clocks of ancient peoples through to today.

-- Saturday, Sept. 23, 2 p.m.: “Cosmic Mashups: Gravity, Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes,” a full-dome movie. Supermassive black holes are found in most galaxies, and scientists are beginning to uncover how the merging of galaxies activates galactic centers. This film is produced by Fiske Planetarium and a University of Colorado-Boulder professor and a former graduate student through a National Science Foundation grant. 

 -- Saturday, Sept. 23, 7 p.m.: “Liquid Sky: Lo-Fi,” a music-based light show. Enjoy a custom playlist of “out-of-this-world” music in genres of rock, indie, pop, electronic and more in 5.1 surround sound. The 4K-resolution planetarium sky will become a canvas of color, patterns and movement with cutting-edge music visualization software and live VJ talent.

-- Tuesday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m.: “Wyoming Skies.” The program provides an exploration of the stars, constellations, planets, meteor showers and other celestial phenomena visible from Wyoming for the season.

-- Friday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m.: “Yellowstone to Enceladus.” This program explores and compares the volcanic power of the geysers under Yellowstone National Park to ice plumes beneath the surface of a moon of Saturn.

-- Saturday, Sept. 30, 2 p.m.: “5,000 Eyes: Mapping the Universe With DESI,” a full-dome movie. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is creating the most detailed map of our nearby universe. Installed on the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in southern Arizona, DESI’s 5,000 independently operated robots can measure the light from thousands of galaxies at once. Explore the science, instrument and people behind this global endeavor.

 -- Saturday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m.: “Liquid Sky: Indie Folk,” a music-based light show. Enjoy a custom playlist of “out-of-this-world” music from top artists in genres of rock, indie, pop, electronic and more in 5.1 surround sound. The 4K-resolution planetarium sky will become a canvas of color, patterns and movement with cutting-edge music visualization software and live VJ talent.

For more detailed descriptions of these programs, go to www.uwyo.edu/physics/planetarium/schedule.html.