UW Planetarium to Premiere New Film, Celebrate Halloween Season During October

The University of Wyoming Harry C. Vaughan Planetarium will open October with a new film and celebrate the spooky season with some Halloween-themed events near the end of the month.

 

“We are premiering a new film, ‘Messengers of Time and Space.’ The planetarium show highlights how Gemini will work together with observatories that monitor the night sky for exciting astronomical events that change with time, such as at Rubin Observatory” in northern Chile, says Max Gilbraith, the planetarium’s director. “Sometimes, light is not the only indicator of these short-term events. Audiences will learn how information can reach us through other messengers, such as cosmic rays, elusive particles called neutrinos and even gravitational waves rippling through the universe.”

 

To close out the last weekend of the month, the planetarium will have two full-dome films with scary themes about the universe; a science talk that will explore science fiction and horror in movies; a “Thriller” of a Michael Jackson laser show; and a Halloween-themed Liquid Sky show.

 

To get tickets or receive more information about programs, email planetarium@uwyo.edu or leave a voicemail and a callback 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. Bulk tickets/gift cards are available at $2 each when 10 or more tickets are purchased.

 

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 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 October schedule is:

 

-- Friday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m.: “NASA’s Great Observatories.” Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra and Compton are great names in astronomy and great telescopes that see beyond the limited light that can pierce the atmosphere of Earth. Visitors will be amazed to see and learn what we can only see of space.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 3, 7 p.m.: “Messengers of Time and Space,” a full-dome movie and a star talk. The film is designed to illuminate the imminent revolution in astronomy driven by time-domain and multi-messenger observations. This immersive experience invites audiences to explore the dynamic cosmos and witness the transformative impact of real-time data on our understanding of the universe. The film was created by the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 3, 8:30 p.m.: “Laser Show: Laser Country.” Enjoy a laser show featuring country music combined with custom laser art in 5.1 surround sound.

 

-- Friday, Oct. 9: “Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) Open House.” There will be no public shows at the planetarium as planetarium staff will support the UW Department of Physics and Astronomy at WIRO on Jelm Mountain. To receive a free reservation for the observatory tour, email physics@uwyo.edu.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m.: “Seeing!”, a full-dome movie and a star talk. The film follows the journey of a single photon as it is produced in a distant star, before traveling across the vast expanse of space to land on someone’s retina. This film is narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 10, 8:30 p.m.: “Laser Show: Best of Pink Floyd.” Enjoy a laser show featuring music from the classic progressive and psychedelic rock band combined with custom laser art in 5.1 surround sound.

 

-- Friday, Oct. 16, 7 p.m.: “Stellar Graveyard.” This program explores the science behind the formation of stars; the various forms they take; and the stellar graveyard, including white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

 

-- Friday, Oct. 16, 8:30 p.m.: “Liquid Sky: Metal,” a music-based light show. Enjoy a custom playlist of “out-of-this-world” music from metal bands 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.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 17: The planetarium will be closed due to the Wyoming Cowboys’ home football game against Northern Illinois University.

 

-- Tuesday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m.: “Wyoming Skies: Autumnal Equinox with Dark Sies in Wyoming.” The Orionid meteor shower will peak on the nights of Wednesday-Thursday, Oct. 21-22. Expect 10-20 meteors an hour during dark skies. The meteors originate from the tail of Halley’s comet and have exceptional speeds that reach 41 miles per second as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

 

After the planetarium show finishes at 8 p.m., informal telescope observing on the rooftop of the Physical Sciences Building at the STAR Observatory will be available, weather permitting.

 

-- Friday, Oct. 23: The planetarium will be closed due to the Wyoming Cowboys’ evening home football game against Air Force.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 24, 2 p.m.: “The Sun: Our Living Star,” a full-dome movie and a star talk. The sun consumes 600 million tons of hydrogen each second and is 500 times as massive as all the planets combined. Viewers will discover the secrets of the sun and experience never-before-seen images of its violent surface.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 24, 7 p.m.: “Distant Worlds: Alien Life,” a full-dome movie and a star talk. Dark matter is a theoretical form of invisible mass, which is believed to be present in galaxies. However, it has never been seen or detected. This film takes the audience on the biggest quest of contemporary astrophysics: solving the dark matter mystery.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 24, 8:30 p.m.: “Laser Show: Zeppelin Unbound.” Enjoy a laser show featuring music from the 1970s classic rock band combined with custom laser art in 5.1 surround sound.

 

-- Friday, Oct. 30, 7 p.m.: “Science of Sci-Fi.” This program will look at recent science fiction films and will discuss what those movies got right and wrong on the hard science. Attendees will see the funny physics faux-pas and groundbreaking visuals that advance the body of scientific knowledge.

 

-- Friday, Oct. 30, 8:30 p.m.: “Laser Show: Michael Jackson.” Enjoy a “Thriller” of a laser show featuring music from the pop music icon combined with custom laser art in 5.1 surround sound.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 p.m.: “The Hot and Energetic Universe,” a full-dome movie. The film investigates the achievements of modern astronomy; the most advanced terrestrial and orbital observatories; the basic principles of electromagnetic radiation; and the natural phenomena related to high-energy astrophysics.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 31, 7 p.m.: “Phantom of the Universe: The Hunt for Dark Matter,” a full-dome movie. The film reveals the first hints of dark matter’s existence through the eyes of Fritz Zwicky, the scientist who coined the term. The film also describes the astral choreography witnessed by Vera Rubin in the Andromeda galaxy and journeys across space and time to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.

 

-- Saturday, Oct. 31, 8:30 p.m.: “Liquid Sky: Halloween,” a music-based light show. Enjoy a custom playlist of “out-of-this-world” spooky music 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 all programs, go to www.uwyo.edu/physics/planetarium/schedule.html.