ASU Announces Fall Public Planetarium Shows

SAN ANGELO, TX - The Angelo State University Planetarium announced that it will present two full-dome public astronomy shows during its fall 2016 schedule beginning Thursday, Sept. 8, in the Vincent Nursing-Physical Science Building, 2333 Vanderventer St.

Every Thursday, from Sept. 8 through Nov. 17, “Solar Superstorms” will run at 7 p.m. and “Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West” will run at 8 p.m. All the shows are open to the public with admission prices of $3 for adults and $2 for children, active military and senior citizens. ASU students, faculty and staff are admitted free.

“Solar Superstorms” takes viewers into the tangle of magnetic fields and superhot plasma that vent the sun’s rage in dramatic flares, violent solar tornadoes, and the largest eruptions in the solar system: coronal mass ejections. The show features one of the most intensive efforts ever made to visualize the inner workings of the sun, including a series of groundbreaking scientific visualizations calculated on the giant new supercomputing initiative, Blue Waters, based at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois.

According to ASU, “Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West” explores the dawn of our new nation – a time before the American West became known as the frontier and a time when little was known about what lay within. Two captains, courageous in spirit and unyielding in their dedication to their mission, led 31 people, including one woman and her infant son, to the Pacific Ocean and back. Audiences will experience the danger and beauty of the unknown American West as it unfolded before the eyes of Lewis and Clark. The program is narrated by award-winning actor Jeff Bridges.