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Planetarium College Wide

located at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus

Maryland, United States of America, Planet Earth around star named Sol, in the Milky Way Galaxy an out lying member of the Virgo Super Cluster around 13.7±.2 billion years after creation

Picture of Planetarium on Fenton Street

Directions to the planetarium. Astronomy is the oldest science and one of the few sciences that welcomes amateurs. Everyone who looks up at the stars with wonder is an astronomer. The planetarium is open from Thursday, August 21, 2008, until Friday, May 15, 2009.  There are exceptions though like Summer Planetarium Programs. This is an academic institution so there are a few holidays like Thanksgiving and around Christmas and new year's day when the entire institution is closed. All evening planetarium programs include a star party after the show, if it is clear.  Star party means we look at the sky with telescopes.  We have a 10 inch (2540mm) Meade LX200-GPS-SMT, a 3 1/2  inch (88.9mm) Questar, and a 4 1/8 inch (105mm) Edmund Astroscan telescopes that we bring outside the planetarium when clear.  Bring your telescope to the star party, and we can have even more fun sharing, the more the merrier. 

WHEN Free Public Planetarium SHOWS and Occasional Celestial Spectacle
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 9:55PM
Live web cast of the July 22, 2009 total solar eclipse from China which for us will occur on July 21 because of the international date line.  So 0:55UT on July 22, 2009 becomes 9:55PM on July 21, 2009 for us. 
Saturday, 19 September 2009 at 7PM or 12 Bak'tun 19 K'atun 16 Tun 12 Winal 9 K'in, 9 Muluk 7 Ch'en, and G8
12Bak’tun 19K’atun 16Tun 12Winal 9K’in   9 Muluk   7 Ch’en   G6
Mayan Calendars In the Planetarium. Sunday, 23 December 2012 may be
13 Bak'tun 0 K'atun 0 Tun 0 Winal 0 K'in, 4 'Ahaw 3 K'ank'in, and G9  a long count calender roll over date.
13Bak’tun 0K’atun 0Tun 0Winal 0K’in   4 ’Ahaw   3 K’ank’in   G9

Formerly, but no longer! Moved to the previous Saturday.
Saturday, 26 September 2009 at 7PM or
12 Bak'tun 19 K'atun 16 Tun 12 Winal 16 K'in, 3 Kib 14 Ch'en, and G4
12Bak’tun 19K’atun 16Tun 12Winal 16K’in   3 K’ib   14 Ch’en   G4
 Mayan Calendars In the Planetarium. Sunday, 23 December 2012 may be
13 Bak'tun 0 K'atun 0 Tun 0 Winal 0 K'in, 4 'Ahaw 3 K'ank'in, and G9 a long count calender roll over date.
13Bak’tun 0K’atun 0Tun 0Winal 0K’in   4 ’Ahaw   3 K’ank’in   G9
Saturday, 24 October 2009 at 2P.M. Sundials FESTIVAL shadow casting sundials and even polarization sundials which will work when a cloud covers the sun or an half-an-hour before sunrise and half-an-hour after sunset.  In the Planetarium.  A protractor, a pencil, and a manila cardboard file folder to make a sundial will be provided.
Saturday, 21  November 2009 at 7P.M. Black Holes, Gravity to the Max: or how c, G, and M make holes in the fabric of time-space (reality)!  In the Planetarium.
Monday, 21 December 2009 at 7P.M. The Day of the Sun's Return, the Winter Solstice (time of Solstice 12:47PM Eastern Standard time)  In the Planetarium.
Saturday, 23 January  2010 at 7P.M. How are Stars Born? not the celebrities, but the gravitational controlled thermonuclear fusion reactors that are real stars. In the Planetarium.
Saturday, 20 February 2010 at 7P.M. African Skies hear creation myths and how at least 40,000 people got their freedom using the Drinking Gourd, the Big Dipper.  In the Planetarium.
Saturday, 20 March 2010 at 7P.M. How Seeing the Stars Will Save You Money and Possibly Save Your Life (and help slow the planet earth's climate change) and Possibly Prevent Breast Cancer In the Planetarium.
Saturday, 17 April 2010 at 7P.M. Space-time Invariance and Quantum Gravity: or how c, G, and h create the fabric of time-space (reality)!  discover the smallest distances and times measurable and how the universe is pixelated. In the Planetarium.
Saturday, 1 May 2010 at 7P.M. Star Stories, some ancient, some old, and some new constellation star stories, good for kids of all ages.  In the Planetarium.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 at 2:32A.M.
 A total Lunar Eclipse for Luna-tics starts at 2:32A.M.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012 at  5P.M.
Transit of Venus across the disk of the sun from the roof of the King Street Parking Garage.
Friday, 13 April 2029 at 8:30P.M.
View 2004MN4, now 99942 Apophis if it is clear from the roof of the King Street Parking Garage or some other high flat place in what ever down town Silver Spring has become that Montgomery College at Takoma Park/Silver Spring controls; or I can get the use of; if I am still alive and employed at the college at age 78, and there is a good chance that I will be!  B612Foundation.   Search on the Planetary Society with the word Apophis!
The planetarium shows 1,834 naked-eye stars, the Milky Way (the diffuse band of light caused by the disk of our own galaxy), and the five naked eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) under a twenty-four-foot dome with forty-two comfortable chairs.  The planetarium is located on Fenton Street on the Takoma Park/Silver Spring  campus of Montgomery College.  It is attached to the Science South building on the ground level and has a conspicuous silver colored domed roof. The stars are the province of all of mankind. An astrophysicist will answer questions about the universe. There is no admission charge for these public planetarium programs, but better than many that cost an admission price.  Several thousand people participated in planetarium programs last year.

Special Planetarium Programs

Planetarium shows for College Classes: 
AS, BI, CH, EL, EN, HS,  GL, MA, PH, PL, and  others in the Planetarium. 		School Teachers and youth group leaders,
Grade Specific Field Trips for Classes in the Planetarium.
Music/LASER Light Shows,
public planetarium programs not strictly astronomical in the Planetarium. 		Traveling Talks and Navigation before 1492.
for groups that can not come to the planetarium.

Summer Planetarium Programs, Special summer workshop, when the planetarium is closed to the public: like teacher workshops, courses for grade school students, and occasional special programs when something very unusual happens in the sky like the transit of Venus in the summer of 2004 and 2012 (and who knows when the next bright comet may appear).

Astronomy Courses Offered in the planetarium, The only place in the Washington Metro area to take a college astronomy course in a planetarium.  Leaning communities of Linked courses like Astrophilosophy, "Does the Universe have a philosophy?" or Astrobiology, "You are made of the Dust of Exploded Stars!"
Engineering & Science Adventure Club at Montgomery College meets in the Planetarium on Friday afternoons at 3PM.
"Saturday Discovery" Planetarium Programs.  Youth programs at the College through WD&CE.
Geometric Algebra, Clifford Algebra, The Cliffhangers, special meetings for people who are mathematically minded.  Spingarn High School District of Columbia Public School, John  Buchanan's physics class presentations
Distributed Computing for High Performance Computing at Montgomery College a vision. Parkland Middle Aerospace Magnet Montgomery County Public School presentations
Astronomy, Geology, and Physics Education sites here and elsewhere.
Takoma Park Middle Montgomery County Public School  presentations.
  
Monthly Public Planetarium astronomy shows, grade specific shows for school groups, scout and other youth group programs, senior citizen and other adult group programs, monthly music/laser light shows, cultural astronomy shows (Havdalah, Whisper of Creation, Islamic Astronomy, Star of Bethlehem, and others possible) college astronomy courses, summer teacher workshops, summer youth courses, all from within a planetarium.  There was a naked eye comet called 17P/Holmes in Perseus on November 7, 2007 there was a show on it.  Astronomical Christmas present recommendations what to buy for the family. 
Last updated Friday, 3:52P.M. Eastern Daylight Standard Time, 6/24/2009 by Dr. Harold Alden Williams, e-mail: Harold.Williams@montgomerycollege.edu   phone 240-567-1463