William M. Staerkel Planetarium
Parkland College,2400 West Bradley Avenue, Champaign, IL 61821 - United States
The William M. Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College is the second largest planetarium in Illinois. Opened in 1987 and seats 128, the planetarium offers public showings on Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the year. Share the wonder of the universe through fulldome shows.
Exhibits
The William M. Staerkel Planetarium is hosting two public shows the evening of Saturday, September 17th.
The first at 7pm will be Cosmic Colors. Take a journey across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Discover the many reasons for color— “why the sky is blue” and “why Mars is red.” Journey inside a plant leaf and the human eye. Investigate x-rays and see the actual color of a dinosaur. Get ready for an amazing adventure under a rainbow of cosmic light!
The second at 8pm will be Einstein's Gravity Playlist. Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of the ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves in 1916. In this show, viewers follow Lucia, a Ph.D. student in physics, on an exploration of how gravitational waves are formed, how they move through the universe, and how scientists like her work to hear them. Einstein’s Gravity Playlist was created through a collaboration between four Montana State University institutions: the eXtreme Gravity Institute, the Department of Physics, the School of Film and Photography, and the School of Music.
Present your Museum Day pass for free admission to either of the above mentioned shows.
Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.