Planetarium Requests

Private organizations(i.e. scout troops, charter schools, day care groups, community organizations) are able to reserve the planetarium for programs depending on availability.  The cost is $13 per adult and $11 per child in attendance, which can be paid at the time of the visit.  Please complete the Planetarium Request Form below to contact us about scheduling your group.

Groups can choose from the following programs offered by the North Penn Planetarium or can have a program tailored to their specific needs when the scheduling process begins.

Planetarium Programs:

• • • • • Celestial Highlights of the Seasonal Sky (all ages): This live planetarium program will take us through the current night sky highlighting the major constellations and planets, as well as which deep sky objects are visible at this time of year.  Join us as we journey into the universe and discover all that the sky can show us! 

        • Forward to the Moon!:  Kari Byron from Crash Test World and Myth Busters launches us on a journey beyond the Earth towards a sustainable future in space. NASA’s 21st century Artemis program, named after the Greek moon Goddess and twin of Apollo, is the next step in our mission to explore the universe and land the first woman and person of color on the surface of the Moon. Produced by Fiske Planetarium in collaboration with TEND Studio with funding from NASA SSERVI and Lockheed Martin.

        • Big Astronomy: People, Places, Discoveries, journey to three world-class observatories in Chile’s rugged Andes Mountains and arid Atacama Desert— remote, extreme regions that happen to have the perfect conditions for astronomical research. Along the way, you’ll meet an inspiring cast of astronomers, engineers, technicians, and support staff who keep these mega-machines running.

        • Phantom of the Universe: “Phantom of the Universe” showcases an exciting exploration of dark matter, from the Big Bang to its anticipated discovery at the Large Hadron Collider. The show reveals the first hints of its existence through the eyes of Fritz Zwicky, the scientist who coined the term “dark matter.” It describes the astral choreography witnessed by Vera Rubin in the Andromeda galaxy and then plummets deep underground to see the most sensitive dark matter detector on Earth, housed in a former gold mine.  From there, it journeys across space and time to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, speeding alongside particles before they collide in visually stunning explosions of light and sound, while learning how scientists around the world are collaborating to track down the constituents of dark matter.

        • One Sky Project:  In an effort to foster greater understanding of humanity’s connection to the sky, the One Sky Project, which is led by the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, sponsored by the Thirty Meter Telescope, and supported by the California Academy of Sciences, the Franklin Institute, NSF’s NOIRLab, and the Thirty Meter Telescope, has released a series of seven short fulldome films and a compiled feature film focusing on cultural and Indigenous astronomy. The project is an international collaboration that seeks to build cross-cultural connections and increase understanding of different Indigenous perspectives while demonstrating how our one sky connects us all. 

        • From Earth to the Universe: The night sky, both beautiful and mysterious, has been the subject of campfire stories, ancient myths and awe for as long as there have been people. A desire to comprehend the Universe may well be humanity’s oldest shared intellectual experience. Yet only recently have we truly begun to grasp our place in the vast cosmos. To learn about this journey of celestial discovery, from the theories of the ancient Greek astronomers to today’s grandest telescopes, we invite you to experience From Earth to the Universe.  This stunning, 30-minute voyage through space and time conveys, through sparkling sights and sounds, the Universe revealed to us by science. Viewers can revel in the splendor of the worlds in the Solar System and our scorching Sun. From Earth to the Universe takes the audience out to the colorful birthplaces and burial grounds of stars, and still further out beyond the Milky Way to the unimaginable immensity of myriad galaxies.  Along the way, the audience will learn about the history of astronomy, the invention of the telescope, and today’s giant telescopes that allow us to probe ever deeper into the Universe. 

        • 5000 Eyes: Mapping the Universe with DESI: The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is creating the most detailed map of our nearby universe. Installed on the Mayall telescope on Kitt Peak in Southern Arizona, DESI's 5000 independently operated robots can measure the light from millions of galaxies at once. Join us as we explore the science, instrument, and people behind this global endeavor and reveal the most detailed galaxy map of our Universe! 

        • Earth, Moon & Sun: This planetarium show explores the relationship between the Earth, Moon and Sun with the help of Coyote, an amusing character adapted from Native American oral traditions who has many misconceptions about our home planet and its most familiar neighbors. His confusion about the universe makes viewers think about how the Earth, Moon and Sun work together as a system. Native American stories are used throughout the show to help distinguish between myths and science. 

Physical Science—2/9