We are gratified that our series of informative and entertaining shows for the general public have proven popular. In 2014 with a 2016 upgrade, we installed a spheric-mirror digital projection system to enable a whole new layer of flexibility in the star theater, including the capability to show fulldome movies. Our dome was painted a friendly gray color in 2019 to reduce light echoes and improve contrast.
Funds from ticket sales maintain and improve our surround sound and full dome visual systems and guarantee an offering of even more spectacular public events in the future. The WSU Foundation will be happy to assist you if you wish to accelerate the upgrades with a financial gift (donate to “gf007726 – Planetarium and Observatory Support Fund”).
Our offerings:
- Day time school / children’s groups ($0), scheduled by gworthey@wsu.edu.
- Evening public shows ($5. We are pleased to begin offering advanced ticket sales via credit card. See individual show descriptions for links.)
- Corporate facility rental: scheduled by gworthey@wsu.edu.
Directions and parking
Directions from Stadium & Main: Turn up Stadium, immediate left at Nevada, immediate left at Washington, turn right on Spokane Street and go 2.5 blocks. Sloan Hall is on your left, but if you are parking, turn left or right on College Ave to seek parking.
For walkers coming from campus, the pedestrian bridge is the most convenient entry; come across the bridge, come in the building, then turn right. Twenty paces later, just past the staircase double doors, turn left and head down the hall to Sloan 231. There are placards pointing the way, but they are unobtrusive.
If you come in the main Sloan Hall entrance, the one with all the signage and lots of glass, you are a level below the pedestrian bridge and the planetarium. Take an immediate left, then enter the staircase with the double doors on your left. Go up one floor. The planetarium is down the hall.
- Parking near the planetarium is “Green 3” zone.
- Parking on weekends and after 5 p.m. is free.
- Buses: During business hours, parking for buses is free on Flag Lane.
- Cars: During business hours, use the AMP parking app for hourly parking, available from WSU Parking Services.
Now showing
Forward To the Moon
7pm, Friday, Sept 18 and 5pm, Sunday, Sept 20.
A docent will point out night sky highlights and upcoming astronomical events. This is followed by a fulldome video presentation.
NASA’s manned space program is focused on establishing a permanent human presence on the moon, our natural satellite. This video short summarizes the plan and its benefits for humanity. The plan’s name? The Artemis mission.
The Hot and Energetic Universe
7pm, Friday, Sept 25 and 5pm, Sunday, Sept 27.
A docent will point out night sky highlights and upcoming astronomical events. This is followed by a fulldome video presentation.
Some kinds of light are outside the range of the human eye. With clever instruments, however, astronomers can use radio waves, X-rays, and gamma rays to study some of the most exotic and powerful phenomena in the universe. Explore with us as we learn about quasars, radio galaxies, supernovae, and gamma ray bursts.
Distant Worlds – Alien Life?
7pm, Friday, Oct 2 and 5pm, Sunday, Oct 4.
A docent will point out night sky highlights and upcoming astronomical events. This is followed by a fulldome video presentation.
The short film “Distant Worlds – Alien Life?” starts with what we know about extrasolar planets and intersects that with what we know about biology. Then it extrapolates to imagine what forms life might actually take in the extreme environments on other planets.
Mayan Archeoastronomy: Observers of the Universe
7pm, Friday, Oct 9 and 5pm, Sunday, Oct 11.
A docent will point out night sky highlights and upcoming astronomical events. This is followed by a fulldome video presentation.
The Mayan civilization has fascinated modern observers for many reasons. Their architecture, games, mathematics, and deep astronomy knowledge continue to inspire us today. This short film emphasizes how the Mayans felt a connection to the universe through their pantheon of deities, connecting the practical knowledge of seasonal changes and planet sky positions to primal emotions. But at the same time, they kept an amazingly precise calendar and preserved their own ancient astronomical knowledge.
Einstein’s Gravity Playlist
7pm, Friday, Oct 16 and 5pm, Sunday, Oct 18.
A docent will point out night sky highlights and upcoming astronomical events. This is followed by a fulldome video presentation.
The short film Einstein’s Gravity Playlist was produced a stone’s throw away in Montana. Lucia, an astrophysics graduate student, explains Einstein’s theory of general relativity. This theory predicts the existence of black holes and furthermore predicts the possibility of gravitational waves; ripples in spacetime. The nearby gravitational wave observatory, LIGO/Hanford, has detected the “inspiral” of binary black holes.
SENTIENT
7pm, Friday, Oct 23 and 5pm, Sunday, Oct 25.
A docent will point out night sky highlights and upcoming astronomical events. This is followed by a fulldome video presentation.
The short film SENTIENT examines the nature of consciousness. It blends psychedelic imagery with poetic narration and an electronic soundscape. It is, honestly, quite weird, and not at all what you’d expect at a planetarium.
Some of the imagery is strangely disturbing, so this film is not recommended for people who don’t like horror movies or people with trypophobia.
The Skies of Samhain
7pm, Friday, Oct 30 and 5pm, Sunday, Nov 1.
A docent will point out night sky highlights and upcoming astronomical events. This is followed by a narrated fulldome presentation (no video for this show).
Explore the historical origins of Halloween. They are partly astronomical, as Halloween falls midway between equinox and solstice, and they are partly cultural and religious, born in the ancient northwestern parts of modern day UK. “Samhain” is both the name of the ancient Gaelic holiday and the modern Gaelic name for the month of November.
Store the harvest and save the light against the long darkness to come.