Irene W. Pennington Planetarium Shows

From New Orleans to New York City: a story of culture, creativity, and the music that shaped America. Join us for this cross-country adventure through the musical heritage of America and the cultural cities where America’s music was born. Narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Apollo 11: First Steps Edition is a thrilling cinematic experience showcasing the real-life moments of the first lunar landing. With never-before-seen 70 mm footage and newly-discovered audio recordings, the filmmakers reconstruct the exhilarating final moments of preparation, lift-off, landing, and return of this historic mission - one of humanity's greatest achievements and the first to put a man on the moon. Immersed in the perspectives of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, the mission control team, and the millions of spectators on the ground, viewers will vividly experience those moments, days, and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future. Viewers will marvel at the human ingenuity and the impulse that led us into space.

Preceded by Seasonal Sky Tonight.

The audience of this stunning 35 minute show are transported inside a special spacecraft that takes them to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to view the stars in the night sky, before lifting them off into space to visit the Earth, Moon, Sun and all the planets of the Solar System.

Unlike traditional planetarium shows the soundtrack takes the lead role. Each of the objects in space are represented with sounds as well as being presented with the incredible visuals. The audience listen to the stars appear and hear the planets orbit around their heads. This means that this show is an immersive experience that can be enjoyed irrespective of level of vision.

This show is designed to be educational for children but proves to be an entertaining experience for people of all ages.

Watch our cool movie about going back to the Moon. In case you haven’t heard, the Moon is trending again… and in a big way. Narrated by Tim Allen (voice of Buzz Lightyear), this is a complete behind-the-scenes feature on the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE, the largest incentivized prize in history. Adapted from the award-winning digital planetarium show, the 24-minute movie chronicles 18 teams from around the world looking to make history by landing a privately funded robotic spacecraft on the Moon. This global competition is designed to spark imagination and inspire a renewed commitment to space exploration, not by governments or countries – but by the citizens of the world.

Cosmic Colors will take you on a wondrous journey across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Discover the many reasons for color—like why the sky is blue and why Mars is red. Take a tour within a plant leaf and journey inside the human eye. Investigate x-rays by voyaging to a monstrous black hole and then back at your doctor’s office. You will even see the actual color of a dinosaur--based on recent evidence. Get ready for an amazing adventure under a rainbow of cosmic light!

This delightful claymation adventure explains one of the greatest geological events in the history of the earth: the separation of the supercontinent Pangaea. When two children embark on a geology field trip, they are thrown into a fantastic voyage in which they witness incredible geological wonders and explore the mysterious process that created our present-day continents.

Narrated by Academy Award® winner Jeff Bridges, Dream Big is a first-of-its-kind film for giant screen theaters, setting out to transform how we think about engineering. From the Great Wall of China and the world’s tallest buildings to underwater robots, solar cars and smart, sustainable cities, Dream Big celebrates the human ingenuity behind engineering marvels big and small and reveals the heart that drives engineers to create better lives for people around the world.

This educational and entertaining 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 Earth and its most familiar neighbors. You will discover solar and lunar eclipses along with the Moon’s orbit, craters, and phases.

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

Visit a Moon colony in 2081 during a solar eclipse and experience an exciting ride across both the Earth and Moon as a grandfather tells his grandchildren stories of our planet. You will learn about eclipses, the ice age, the Earth’s water cycle, and the differences between our Earth and the Moon.

Follow the monarchs’ perilous journey, join hundreds of millions of real butterflies in the remote mountain peaks of Mexico, and discover the compelling true story of an intrepid scientist’s 40-year search to find the monarchs’ secret hideaway in this beautiful scientific adventure.

Ages 3+

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. Using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before, NASA uses what they learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars. Join Kari Byron from Crash Test World and MythBusters as she launches on a journey beyond the Earth toward a sustainable future in space.

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

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 splendour of the worlds in the Solar System and our scorching Sun. From Earth to the Universe takes the audience out to the colourful 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.

Journey to the year 2132 as we follow Carina, a young woman stationed on Mars, as she communicates with her brother Aidan back on Earth. Experience living on a futuristic Mars colony and ride a rover across the Martian surface. Children and adults alike will learn about the differences between Earth and Mars and what it might be like to live and work on another planet.

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

Narrated by LeVar Burton, In Saturn’s Rings is a groundbreaking adventure that takes audiences on a journey of the mind, heart and spirit, from the Big Bang to the awe-inspiring rings of Saturn.

In Saturn’s Rings is unique as it uses no computer-generated images. Instead, the film painstakingly employs multiplane photo animation created entirely in Adobe After Effects with image processing by over one hundred volunteers.

Over 7.5 million mostly unseen real images from the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Hubble Telescope Milky Way time lapses, and more are brilliantly brought to life in this ground-breaking epic immersive journey across space and time.

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

Step off the beaten path and connect to your inner trailblazer in this cross-country journey to some of the most beautiful but little-known landscapes of North America.

From the wilds of Alaska and the lush coastline of Oregon, to the ancient canyons of the Southwest and the rolling hills of the Appalachian Trail, Into America’s Wild is a non-stop ride via kayak, train, bike, hot air balloon and more that explores the transformational allure of wild places and the human connection we all share with the natural world.

The vastness of our planet's oceans holds unimaginable secrets. One of its most precious is Kaluoka'hina, the enchanted reef, whose magic protects it from being discovered by humans. Kaluoka'hina's colorful inhabitants have thus always lived in peace... until the volcano erupts and the spell is broken. Now it's up to the young sawfish Jake and his paranoid pal Shorty to restore the magic of Kaluoka'hina. Their only lead: the ancient legend that tells of touching the moon. But how is a fish supposed to touch the moon? This is just one of the intriguing puzzles that Jake and Shorty have to solve on their most exciting adventure ever: the quest to save their beloved reef.

A mysterious “M” sends the intrepid Jack and Annie on a fun-filled journey to discover the secrets of the Sun, Moon, planets, space travel, and more. This beautifully produced show is a winner with Magic Tree House book series fans and all ages.

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

The explorers and scientists in this digital program piece together archeological and genetic clues provided by their study of Egyptian mummies in order to reveal the mysterious world of the pharaohs. Through ambitious computer graphics and dramatic reconstruction, Mummies highlights one of the greatest finds in modern archeological history: the late 19th-century discovery of a cache of 40 mummies, including 12 pharaohs, among them Rameses the Great. The movie is narrated by Christopher Lee.

Join us for the ultimate off-trail adventure into America’s awe-inspiring great outdoors. Explore the wilds of America and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in this fulldome movie narrated by Robert Redford. You will journey through some of America’s most majestic wild places and discover a tapestry of natural wonders that will inspire the adventurer in all of us.

Elmo’s friend Hu Hu Zhu visits Sesame Street and discovers that Elmo can see the same star that he sees in China. He and the young astronomers will learn how to locate the Moon, the Big Dipper, and the North Star in the nighttime sky.

Join Neil deGrasse Tyson on a journey exploring the life of a photon. Start from its creation in the belly of a star, travel across the galaxy and go all the way into the eye of a young stargazing girl. You will learn the structures of the eye and its functions while taking a ride on the optic nerve. Discover how the eye works and how technology has enabled us to restore vision and prevent a variety of diseases that affect sight in the show Seeing!

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

Leading scientists in observational and theoretical studies of black holes and galaxies, industrial experts in cutting-edge big technologies, and professionals in science dissemination have been brought together to set up research projects which will combine the latest state-of-the-art observations, numerical simulations and innovative analytic tools to compare theory with observation, and shed light on the physics of black hole formation in the context of galaxy evolution. This planetarium show presents the environments of the black holes in an impressive and understandable way to the audience.

Chronicling a remarkable discovery in the badlands of Hell Creek in the summer of 2023, this immersive giant screen film explores the life and times of the Greatest Of All Tyrants – the GOAT.

For over a hundred years dinosaurs have inspired and thrilled audiences, commanding blockbuster status in museums and at the box office. But among them towers a king—a tyrant lizard king. With leaps in CGI wizardry and revolutions in tyrannosaur paleontology over the past twenty-five years, the time has come to revisit rex in the world’s prestigious museum cinemas.

Working with top tyrannosaur scientists, a coalition of natural history institutions, and pioneering paleo and visual effects artists, GSF’s original giant screen production on this iconic dinosaur—and its carnivorous Cretaceous cousins—aims to be the most dazzling and accurate T. rex documentary ever made.

With respect to famous specimens, landmark discoveries, and wild cinematic depictions over the last century, the film will explore the interplay between speculation and evidence, and reveal how the process of science refreshes and reimagines our understanding of this legendary dinosaur.

Ted’s Space Adventure is presented by an astronomer and with interactivity, music and rhyme, the show is a must for pre-school children! Here we follow Ted on a journey around the Solar System in search of the perfect planet to plant his plant. His plant will need sunshine, rain and soil. Sing along as we slowly eliminate any place that is too warm, too cold, too poisonous or too dusty.

What keeps Galaxies together? What are the building blocks of the Universe? What makes the Universe look the way it looks today? Researchers all around the world try to answer these questions. We know today that approximately a quarter of the Universe is filled with a mysterious glue: Dark Matter. We know that it is out there. But we have no idea what it is made out of.

This fulldome planetarium show takes you on the biggest quest of contemporary astrophysics. You will see why we know that Dark Matter exists, and how this search is one of the most challenging and exciting searches science has to offer. Join the scientists on their hunt for Dark Matter with experiments in space and deep underground. Will they be able to solve the Dark Matter Mystery?

The Life of Trees is an entertaining and educational fulldome experience that tells the fascinating story of the world of trees. The Life of Trees shows the importance of plants for life on Earth, how trees grow, how they transport water against gravity to the top of the crown, and how they enable diverse life on Earth by producing oxygen.

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

What are stars made of? What's in our galaxy? Meet the Milky Way Gang and analyze and interpret data to find out how planets are born, why stars shine, and the difference between stars, planets, and moons. This fun and educational film is great for all ages.

Join two friends, 12-year-old Luke and a quirky robot named Alby, who knows all about Albert Einstein and his theories, on a magical journey through space and time. They not only uncover the secrets of gravity but also learn about friendship and imagination.

This show is preceded by a Seasonal Sky Tonight show.

Trace the history of the telescope, starting with Galileo's modifications, then to a child's spyglass, and finally to the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the future of astronomy, with this show that explores the discoveries made by astronomers throughout the last 400 years.