ETSU’s Department of Physics & Astronomy has exciting planetarium shows coming up for all to attend. Every semester, the on-campus planetarium holds shows in their full dome video theatre for all to get a taste of the exciting projection of the world beyond us in space. Located on the third floor of Hutchinson Hall on campus, the planetarium welcomes all who want to experience a mind-blowing program for free.
All shows take place at 7 p.m. on Thursdays. There are three more showings before the semester ends, one of them taking place during spring break on Thursday, March 19, called “The Origin of Time.” This program is about the origin of the seasons and its relation to the cycles in the sky. It takes an in depth dive into the origins of the days of the week and months of the year.
Dr. Gary Henson, professor of physics and astronomy spoke on the program’s subjects: “Our human perception of time and the actual cycles of time come naturally from our environment space and connect with our calendar force.”
The last couple of years, the sun experienced a very active sunspots cycle. This behavior from the sun caused northern lights to be seen in more southern latitudes. The second show on April 16 is “The Sun: Our Living Star.” The program is all about the sun and its function as a space weathering system.
Finally, the planetarium will end the semester with “FireFall,” a thrilling program that steps through the Earth’s violent history of impacts from asteroids, meteors, and comets. The program also looks at how these objects are detected and led away from impacting with Earth.
If you want a fun, immersive experience, consider attending one of these shows at the ETSU Planetarium. They display various kinds of programs throughout the year and can be found on their website at: https://www.etsu.edu/cas/physics/outreach/planetarium.php
