Fall Planetarium Shows And Astronomy Programs At Bays Mountain
Travel back to the beginning of time and experience the birth of the Sun with Bays Mountain’s new planetarium show for fall! Bays Mountain Planetarium’s main feature, Sunstruck, starts this month.
The main planetarium feature for September – December will be Sunstruck. Discover how the sun came to support life, how it threatens life as we know it and how its energy will one day fade away. The show is followed by a brief tour of our current night sky. The show runs 40 min.
Also starting this month is the alternate planetarium show for September and October, Appalachian Skies – Fall. This live presentation is about the current spring night sky. Learn what fascinating constellations and planets will be easily visible. This program highlights the spectacular Carl Zeiss ZKP-4 star projector instrument. Its fiber-optic generated star field is stunning and a pleasure to see. Bring your binoculars for deep-sky exploration.
Bays Mountain Planetarium’s alternative features are shown on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. The main features are shown at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the weekends and at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Tickets for planetarium shows are $5 per person. Children ages 5 and younger receive free admission with a paying adult.
Continuing through October, is the solar viewing program, SunWatch. Solar Viewing is a great way to learn about the Sun, our nearest star. SunWatch observing programs are held each clear Saturday and Sunday from 3 – 3:30 p.m. at the dam. Witness the Sun up close and in detail. If you get to see a sunspot, you’ll see a dark patch on the Sun’s photosphere that will probably be at least the size of the Earth.
The fall evening observing sessions, known as StarWatch, will start up in October. StarWatch is an outdoor program that allows the public to enjoy the splendor of the night sky at the observatories. Gaze at the Moon’s craters and imagine yourself flying over in a spacecraft. Witness celestial places of star birth and star death. If the weather does not cooperate, we’ll hold an alternate activity in the planetarium theater. These programs are free to the public. The observing sessions are held each Saturday night in October & November. They start at 7:30 p.m. on October 6 & 13; 7 p.m. on October 20, 27 & November 3; 6 p.m. on November 10, 17 & 24.
For more information on Bays Mountain’s planetarium shows, please visit baysmountain.com or call 423-229-9447.