Our Apollo 11 50th anniversary celebration is only 1 week away!
Don't forget to come to the Arlington planetarium between 12 noon and 3pm on Saturday, July 20th for FREE planetarium shows and other activities.
We're delighted that members of the 501st Legion (from the Star Wars universe) will be visiting the celebration to show their support for human space exploration!
We want YOU to come to the Arlington planetarium on July 20th to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission!
But, we're not the only ones celebrating this anniversary, so be sure to check out some of the other events happening around the DMV area during the next couple of weeks!
Here's a link to the extensive celebrations planned by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://airandspace.si.edu/learn/highlighted-topics/apollo/apollo-50
Join us for a year-long celebration of as we look back at the legacy of our first small steps on the Moon and look forward to the next giant leap. The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will help lead a national celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions including the firs...
Channel 4 (UK) will stream a replay of the entire Apollo 11 mission on its YouTube channel in honor of the 50th anniversary of the flight!
https://www.tvbeurope.com/tvbeverywhere/channel-4-to-livestream-apollo-11-mission
Minute-by-minute stream will be available on broadcaster's YouTube channel
The Friends of the Planetarium are pleased to announce that some special guests are coming to help the planetarium celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing - the 501st Legion is sending some representatives from the Empire!
Don't despair!
Even if you couldn't arrange to travel to South America for today's total solar eclipse, you can still watch it online.
NASA has partnered with San Francisco's Exploratorium to stream the event live.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-livestream-south-america-total-solar-eclipse
NASA has partnered with the Exploratorium in San Francisco to bring live views to people across the world of a total solar eclipse, occurring Tuesday, July 2, over South America.
Stocking up in preparation for the Apollo 11 50th anniversary celebration at the Arlington planetarium!
Come celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar mission at Arlington's David M. Brown Planetarium!
On Saturday, July 20, 2019, from 12 - 3pm, you can enjoy free planetarium shows to commemorate the first moon landing!
Congratulations to Samuel Gerardi of W-L High School! He is this year's recipient of the David M. Brown Memorial Scholarship. Samuel plans to study both physics and music at the University of Virginia.
July 20, 2019 - Save the date!!!!
The school year is drawing to a close, but the Friends of the Planetarium aren't quite ready to go on Summer vacation yet! July 20th will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and we are going to celebrate at the planetarium. We hope you'll join us!
Thanks to everyone who came to one or more of the Friends of the Planetarium events last weekend! Despite issues with the air conditioning system, a lot of people got to learn about and celebrate the achievements of the Apollo space program.
We'd like to give a special shout out to Friends member Lyn-Anne Cornelius, who shared a special edition of Peter Rabbit - featuring space themed artwork - with our younger audience members!
Update - if you can stay for a bit after the 7:30 planetarium show tonight (5/18/19), you may get an opportunity to look at the sky through a telescope!
There are still some seats left for the 1:30pm concert at the planetarium tomorrow (5/19/19)!
Don't miss your chance to hear Dr Jim and the Moondiggers live in concert!
Don't miss the final Friends of the Planetarium programming weekend of the school year! 5/17/19 through 5/19/19 we'll have shows and special events that celebrate NASA's Apollo program!
Friday 5/17/19 -
6:30pm - Apollo 11: Man's First Step Onto the Moon
A new planetarium show about the Apollo 11 mission.
7:30pm - Yes, We DID Go to the Moon
A debate/discussion presented by high school science teachers debunking the myth that the moon landings didn't happen.
Saturday 5/18/19
6:30pm - Astronaut
A planetarium show about what it takes to be an astronaut.
7:30pm - Apollo 11: Man's First Step Onto the Moon
Encore showing of the Friday planetarium show.
(Come early and test your knowledge in an Apollo Trivia Quiz just before the show!)
Sunday 5/19/19
1:30pm - Dr Jim and the Moondiggers
Dr Jim Thorne is back! Come enjoy this concert for all ages, with music about space and science! See planetarium music videos for some of Dr. Jim's songs!
3:00pm - Magic Treehouse: Space Mission
Based on the Magic Treehouse books - and one of the most popular shows at the planetarium.
Tickets are now available online at the Friends website
friendsoftheplanetarium.org and at friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com.
*If the program you are interested in is already sold out online, we will also have a limited number of tickets available at the door.
Our final programming weekend of the 2018-2019 school year is happening this month.
Join us for one or more events May 17 - 19, 2019 as we celebrate the achievements of the Apollo space program!
Stay tuned for more details.
We noticed how popular the space themed coloring pages were at the planetarium on Sunday. So, we thought we would share a link to a NASA Exoplanets Coloring Book that you can download for free! You can learn about exoplanets, too!
https://smd-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/science-red/s3fs-public/atoms/files/Exoplanets%20Coloring%20Book%2007-22-2016.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2rCH_0I26c2XDha7yvclGo9Flb9Eopij5uHKjkpwGqMy4vkRHqjw93ZlA
A huge thank you to Shane Hynes for his great talk today about NASA’s TESS space telescope! The audience had lots of questions about the spacecraft and the mission! We hope to hear more in the next couple of years about TESS and all the exoplanets it has discovered.
On Sunday (4/28/2019) we finish out our weekend about space telescopes with two programs:
1:30pm - Magic Treehouse: Space Mission
This is a very popular planetarium show, perfect for families, based on the Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne.
3:00pm - NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) - A Talk by Shane Hynes
This is NOT the usual Sunday afternoon children's programming, but a special presentation by a NASA engineer about TESS, a space telescope that searches for exoplanets. Come learn from Mission Systems Engineer Shane Hynes about TESS and the hunt for new planets!
You can reserve seats for these events at:
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/
There are two shows at the Arlington planetarium tonight (4/27/2019) - come learn about space and how we look at it:
6:30pm - IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System
7:30pm - From Earth to the Universe
You can reserve seats in advance at:
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/
I hope some of you can come to the planetarium this weekend. We only have a couple of programming weekends left before we take a summer break.
Don't miss out! There are special shows at the Arlington planetarium this weekend!
The Friends of the Planetarium will be presenting special programming at the planetarium 4/26 - 4/28/19, and our theme is space telescopes.
You can reserve seats in advance at https://friendsoftheplanetarium.org or
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/
Friday, 4/26/19 - two fulldome planetarium shows about telescopes and what they allow us to see:
6:30pm - From Earth to the Universe
7:30pm - Two Small Pieces of Glass
Saturday, 4/27/19 - two fulldome planetarium shows
6:30pm - IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System
7:30pm - From Earth to the Universe
Sunday, 4/28/19 - a child friendly planetarium show and a live talk by an engineer about a NASA mission to find other planets!
1:30pm - Magic Treehouse: Space Mission
3:00pm - NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) - A Talk by Shane Hynes
Don't miss out! There are special shows at the Arlington planetarium this weekend!
The Friends of the Planetarium will be presenting special programming at the planetarium 4/26 - 4/28/19, and our theme is space telescopes.
You can reserve seats in advance at https://friendsoftheplanetarium.org or
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/
Friday, 4/26/19 - two fulldome planetarium shows about telescopes and what they allow us to see:
6:30pm - From Earth to the Universe
7:30pm - Two Small Pieces of Glass
Saturday, 4/27/19 - two fulldome planetarium shows
6:30pm - IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System
7:30pm - From Earth to the Universe
Sunday, 4/28/19 - a child friendly planetarium show and a live talk by an engineer about a NASA mission to find other planets!
1:30pm - Magic Treehouse: Space Mission
3:00pm - NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) - A Talk by Shane Hynes
From Space.com, a story about the life of an amazing woman, pilot and spaceflight advocate.
She was much more than a woman whose dreams of spaceflight were thwarted.
Happy Earth Day to everyone! Let's cherish and celebrate the only planet we've got!
Photo from NASA.
The planetarium is closed for Spring Break 4/19/19 - 4/21/19, but join us for a special Friends of the Planetarium weekend next week!
For April 26 -28th, 2019 the theme is space telescopes, and we have full dome planetarium shows and a special speaker!
You can reserve tickets now at: friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com
or at our website:
www.friendsoftheplanetarium.org
Today, on his birthday, we take a moment to remember astronaut (and Arlingtonian) David M. Brown.
In 2011, Space.com published this infographic by Karl Tate that describes the historic space flight of Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1.
On April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space.
Reminder: because of Spring Break, the Arlington planetarium will NOT have any public shows during the weekends of 4/12/19 - 4/14/19 and 4/19/19 - 4/21/19.
However, there will be a special Friends of the Planetarium weekend 4/26/19 - 4/28/19 - and the theme is space telescopes!
We're sorry to hear that Israel's SpaceIL Beresheet lunar probe was unable to complete a soft landing and crashed on the Moon today. But the mission was still a triumph, and everyone who worked on it should be proud. It was the first privately funded spacecraft to orbit the Moon - and very low cost, compared to other lunar missions! Here's a selfie that the spacecraft took from only a few miles above the lunar surface.
Photo credit: SpaceIL/IAI
Our weather and climate weekend continues!
The Friends of the Planetarium will be showing two fulldome shows tonight (3/16/2019) at the Arlington planetarium -
"Oasis in Space" at 6:30pm
"Earth, Moon and Sun" at 7:30pm (especially family friendly!)
And don't forget, Sunday afternoon (3/17/2019) also features family friendly, yet educational shows:
"H20: The Water Cycle" at 1:30pm
"Zula Patrol: Under the Weather" at 3:00pm
We will also have some weather related activities between the shows!
Tickets are still available online at Ticketleap for all shows (and some tickets will be available at the door):
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/
Don't miss tonight's special presentation on weather and climate change in the Washington, DC area!
Jason Samenow, weather editor at the Washington Post and chief meteorologist of the Capital Weather Gang, will give his presentation at the Arlington planetarium tonight (3/15/2019) at 7:30pm!
You can still reserve seats online at:
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/weather-and-climate---live-presentation-by-jason-samenow/
Some tickets will also be available at the door.
We hope you'll join us!
How is climate change affecting the weather in and near Washington DC? Is it warming up and how are rain and snow changing? What do the latest climate change simulations project for the region? Capital Weather Gang's Jason Samenow will walk you through the data and discuss the implications for the f...
Do you wonder why are we experiencing so much extreme weather? What's the difference between weather and climate? How is the weather in the DC area changing?
Come find out about the future of weather in the Washington area at a special presentation by Jason Samenow of the Capital Weather Gang!
Jason will talk about weather and climate change at the Arlington planetarium on Friday, March 15th, at 7:30pm.
Reserve your seats online at: https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/weather-and-climate---live-presentation-by-jason-samenow
Some seats will also be available at the door.
How is climate change affecting the weather in and near Washington DC? Is it warming up and how are rain and snow changing? What do the latest climate change simulations project for the region? Capital Weather Gang's Jason Samenow will walk you through the data and discuss the implications for the f...
The Friends of Arlington's planetarium have another exciting weekend of special programming coming up March 15-17, 2019!
This month our theme is Weather and Climate Change.
We will be showing special fulldome planetarium programs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and we have a special guest speaker on Friday evening - Jason Samenow from the Capital Weather Gang!
Tickets for all events are now available online, and some tickets will be available at the door.
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com
Attention all science and peeps fans - there is only one week remaining to get your science themed peeps diorama finished!
https://www.theopennotebook.com/peeps/
Are you fascinated by science, but feel like words and images are sometimes just insufficient to express the elation of a discovery, the tenacity of a graduate student, or the agony of an ex…
This weekend (3/01 through 3/03/19) isn't a Friends of the Planetarium program weekend but we want to remind you that the Arlington schools will be running the regularly scheduled planetarium shows this weekend -
You can see the show Undiscovered Worlds
Friday, 3/01/2019 at 7:30pm (Tonight!)
or Saturday, 3/02/2019 at 7:30pm
On Sunday, 3/03/2019:
1:30pm - Perfect Little Planet
3:00pm - Magic Treehouse: Space Mission
And a reminder - there will be a Stars Tonight presentation this Monday (March 4, 2019) at 7:30pm.
Thanks to everyone who came to our Darwin and Evolution weekend events! Here are a few photos from Sunday's introduction to sextants and celestial navigation.
We want to acknowledge Dr. Alice Monet, whose generous donation enabled us to obtain the program "Darwin and His Fabulous Orchids" for the Arlington planetarium.
Want to know how the crew of the HMS Beagle (including naturalist Charles Darwin) were able to successfully navigate their way around the globe long before GPS existed? Come to the Arlington planetarium on Sunday to find out!
On Sunday afternoon (2/24/2019) the planetarium will have a special 19th century guest, Eliza Twyford Covington. Between fulldome shows (at approximately 2:15pm) she will demonstrate the use of sextants for navigation. You don't need a ticket to participate in this activity, but we hope you will also decide to attend one of our planetarium shows (at 1:30pm or 3:00pm).
Tickets for the fulldome planetarium shows are available online and at the door.
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/
We had a full house at the planetarium last night for the premiere of "Darwin and His Fabulous Orchids"! If you missed it, you still have a chance to see the program tonight (2/23/2019). There will be screenings at 6:30pm and 7:30pm. We are the only planetarium in the US showing this program, so don't miss it!
Tickets are still available online and some tickets will be available at the door.
https://friendsoftheplanetarium.ticketleap.com/
Our online tickets are sold out for tonight's planetarium show, but we will have some tickets available at the door. In honor of tonight's premiere we're also going to have some light refreshments available at 6:30pm.
Hope to see you at the planetarium!
1426 N Quincy St
Arlington, VA
22207
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