Best Planetarium Downey Near Me

4worldlovers: A visit to the UCLA Planetarium has three parts: a special topic presentation, a current night-sky show, and (weather permitting) a telescope viewing.

The special topic presentation lasts about 30 minutes, with a slide or video presentation about a specific area of astronomy, and is shown in the planetarium immediately preceding the night-sky show. Special topic presentations are designed to be interesting and meaningful for anyone who comes to our planetarium. A different topic is offered at each week’s public show.

4worldlovers: Ever since the planetarium opened in the spring of 1968, our mission has been to bring the joy of discovering the cosmos to people of all ages.

New planetarium shows are offered every month, tickets for these shows can purchased online or at the door. Free telescope viewing is also available once a month at the Mt. SAC Observatory (weather permitting). Please view our online calendar for more information on these events.

4worldlovers:
Thanks to the generosity and vision of the late John Drescher, Santa Monica College is the home to a computerized planetarium theater. At its heart is the Evans & Sutherland Digistar II planetarium projector, which was the first of its kind on the West Coast. Using digital technology, audiences can fly beyond the solar system and soar among the stars. We can transport you across our galaxy to the limits of spacetime.


January 27th's telescope observing event on campus was a success and we would like to thank all those who attended and helped make it a memorable evening, including the faculty and members of the SMC Astronomy Club who helped out - not to mention multiple audience members who offered help with putting equipment away.

We intend to follow up with more similar events but will probably schedule them for Saturday evenings rathe than Fridays. Watch this space for developments.

Invitation links to the live online events are generally posted the Thursday before. These programs are only available LIVE on Friday evenings, and on the occasional Matinee dates, normally Sundays. Clicking on the Zoom links at other times will not work.

Please scroll down beyond the calendar for notes on upcoming 8 p.m. programs

We also look forward to the expanded capabilities of the new planetarium SMC is building for opening in Fall 2024.

The Night Sky programs will last roughly 30 - 40 minutes, followed by a short question and answer period where guests can type questions into a chat box and we will answer as many questions as possible. There will be a short intermission at approximately 7:50 p.m. prior to the start of the Feature program at 8 p.m.

Sunday afternoon matinees feature a condensed presentation combining elements of the previous Friday night's programming.

Note that all 8 p.m. feature programs are preceded by the 7 p.m. “Night Sky” program described above.

Currently all presentations are online ONLY, with the exception of occasional observing programs.

May 12th: The Life Cycle of Stars: A Walk Along the Main Sequence

May 19th: Skylab: America's First Space Station - A 50 Year Retrospective, Part One