New Planetarium Show “Back to the Moon – For Good” Launches Astronomy Day Event
KINGSPORT – Friday, May 9, at 4:00 p.m., Bays Mountain Parks newest planetarium show Back to the Moon – For Good launches the parks annual Astronomy Day event which follows on Saturday, May 10, from noon until 10:00 p.m. Co-hosts Bays Mountain Park and the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club will celebrate the International Day of Astronomy with free presentations, displays and hands-on activities for the entire public.
Back to the Moon – For Good, narrated by award-winning actor Tim Allen, immerses the viewer in a race to return to the Moon 40 years after the historic Apollo landings. The show takes a look at how a competition among privately funded international teams is ushering in a new era of lunar exploration. Viewers will also learn about the Moons resources and discover what humanitys future on the Moon might hold. Back To The Moon – For Good presents the Google Lunar XPRIZE, and the personal stories of competition and collaboration it inspires.
The show is immediately followed by a two-part live presentation with the first highlighting the moon and its major features. The second utilizes our Carl Zeiss ZKP-4 star projector in which planetarium staff highlights our current night sky and its major constellations and any Solar System objects visible.
Planetarium show tickets are $4.00 per person. All non-planetarium Astronomy Day-related activities are free and are perfect fun for the entire family! Weather permitting; the club will also be hosting a daytime viewing of the sun and nighttime viewing of the Moon, Jupiter and more!
Schedule of Events
Afternoon:
12:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Displays, Demonstrations & Information (free!): Walkway in front of Nature Center (Discovery Theater, if raining.)
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Solar Viewing (free!): Observatory.
Thrill at viewing different layers of the Sun up close and in great detail. Safely see sunspots and prominences. Weather dependent.
Evening:
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Nighttime Viewing (free!): Observatory.
Spectacular views of celestial delights await you with the Bays Mountain Astronomy Clubs telescopes. Savor a wonderful view of the colorful bands of Jupiter and its four largest moons, feel like youre flying low over the moon, and be awe-struck by the distance to galaxies. These views and more will be seen at our Observatory. A live presentation about what is up in the night sky will take place in the Planetarium, if the weather does not cooperate.
link: http://www.baysmountain.com/astronomy/observatory/?GTTabs=2
