After more than a year in the making, Clark Planetarium Productions is unveiling its most groundbreaking show since “The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket”! The show is revolutionary on a number of fronts – a modernized look at the solar system with notable appeal to families, schools and the general public…  Detail, color and sharpness like nothing we could ever do before thanks to our new projector system.  A frame rate *double* the pace of a standard movie (meaning:  smooth and sharply defined motion of scenes across the screen!).  Resolution many times beyond HD.  The incredible character performances of the actors also go a long way to enhance the story.

So what is the story?  Imagine the ultimate space vacation!  What if you could travel the galaxy to find that ideal place?  Discover our solar system through a new set of eyes – a family from another star system seeking the perfect vacation spot.  Fly over the surface of Pluto, our best known Dwarf Planet.  Dive over the ice cliffs of Uranus’ moon Miranda.  Sail through the rings of Saturn.  Feel the lightning storms at Jupiter.  And zip by the moons of Mars.  Which destination would you choose?  Take your family on an exploration of some of the best sights of our solar system.  You’ll feel as though you’re there – no 3D glasses required!

Built in our dome for space travelers of all ages. Watch a preview of “Perfect Little Planet.” PLP will play in our Hansen Dome Theatre beginning February 17, 2012. Buy tickets. Running Time: 35 minutes.

“Asking and wondering about the nightsky is integral to the outdoor experience,” says Seth Jarvis, Director of Clark Planetarium. Jarvis hopes to give you a reason to marvel at what you can see in the night sky when you’re away from the city lights. He will teach you how to identify whether what you’re seeing is a planet or a star. Or is that fast moving light a satellite or a plane?

All ages are invited to the free event at the Salt Lake City REI at 3285 East 3300 South. The discussion will run from 7-8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. For more information call 801-486-2100 or sign up online.

“The scheduling of the movie at our IMAX Theatre is ironic and very fortuitous from a public interest point of view,” says Seth Jarvis, Clark Planetarium director. “Its screening comes in the wake of Russia’s failed Phobos-Grunt space probe on Jan. 15 that was slated to explore a Martian moon. It failed to escape earth’s orbit and crashed unceremoniously into the ocean.  It’s that type of debris ‘Space Junk 3D’ is all about.”

Harnessing the magical imagery of the 3D Giant Screen, “Space Junk 3D” director Melissa Butts takes the viewer soaring from the stunning depths of Meteor Crater in Arizona to an unprecedented view of increasingly crowded orbits 22,000 miles above earth. Fueling the story are stunning time-lapse sequences and dynamic images that transport audiences by wrapping them in star fields and allowing them to witness massive collisions in space – both natural and man-made.

Accenting what Jarvis said about remnants of hundreds of space probes, Academy Award nominee, Tom Wilkinson, who narrates the films, says “After a half a century of space exploration, we are faced with what has long been a staple of science fiction – an orbiting junkyard of cast-off space debris.”

On-screen, Don Kessler, retired head of NASA’s Orbital Debris Office, and “father” of Space Junk, reaches back to the beginning of our solar system for understanding and guides viewers through the challenges we face in protecting our orbits.

For more information or to buy tickets to Space Junk 3D please visit our website clarkplanetarium.org.

Education outreach at a Utah school

The chant among Clark Planetarium staff in 2011 was “Two Point Oh.”  We’re dreaming big dreams and making big plans for transforming ourselves and our facility into a “next generation” planetarium.

The chant among Clark Planetarium staff in 2011 was “Two Point Oh.”  We were dreaming big dreams and making big plans for transforming ourselves and our facility into a “next generation” planetarium.

Getting ready to paint in the Hansen Dome Theatre

We’re currently in the planning stages to similarly overhaul our free public exhibits. Our goal is to have completed a full-on “Clark Planetarium version 2.0” upgrade in time for our tenth anniversary in 2013. (Our 10th anniversary? Just a year away? I can’t believe how fast time moves around this place. I think Special Relativity is involved.)

Coming in 2012 we’ll be presenting several new documentaries on our ATK IMAX screen, beginning with Space Junk 3D in early February and Into the Arctic 3D in mid-April.

Our original production of Perfect Little Planet makes its world premiere in the Hansen Dome Theatre mid-February. Perfect Little Planet takes planetarium dome theatre programs to a whole new level of innovation, adventure and amazing visuals.

Education outreach at a Utah school

Our education programs to Utah schools also expands into “Clark Planetarium 2.0” territory in 2012.  We provided unique and valuable astronomy and space science educational experiences to over 70,000 Utah students and teachers in 2011 and we will provide even greater levels of these services in the coming year.

We sincerely appreciate your support and the time you spend with us.  It’s because of you that we are able to be one of the world’s great planetarium facilities.

Are you an amazing pianist? An incredible computer programmer? An awesome athlete? Are you a gifted chef, a brilliant architect, or a whiz at accounting?

Is there any question in anyone’s mind that to be genuinely exceptional at something you also have to love doing it?

You know what we, as a nation, are exceptionally good at? Something nobody else does as well as we do?

Aerospace. We do Aerospace better than anyone. Why? Because we love it. It’s in our blood.

We flew the first working airplanes. We invented the airline industry. We were the first people to fly an aircraft faster than Mach 1, the speed of sound, and then past Mach 2, and Mach 3, and 4, and 5 and 6…

We invented the satellite telecommunications industry. We put 12 sets of footprints on the Moon. We built and successfully flew the reusable Space Shuttle – for 30 years.

Yes, we did some of those things with varying levels of international cooperation, but the point is we were always leading the effort.

This past weekend, we launched a one-ton robot the size of a car and sent it on its way to Mars. This rover, aptly named “Curiosity,” is a huge, powerful, all-wheel-drive rolling science laboratory with a mission to study Mars and look for signs of life. It will arrive on the red planet next August and then spend at least the next two years exploring Mars.

Watch this video:

Is there any doubt in your mind that this, the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, is the work of people who are passionate about their jobs and are the best in the world at it?

Now then, what’s the value, (I don’t mean cost, I mean the value, as in “How important is this to us?”) of a program like that?

What is it worth to us as a nation to roll-back the frontiers of scientific discovery, to answer important questions about the abundance and nature of life in the universe, to develop significant new technologies in propulsion, guidance, communication, robotics, miniaturization, materials science, biochemistry, computing, etc.?

What is it worth to us to invest in the last sector of the economy that we’re still best-in-the-world at doing?

Moreover, what is it worth to give the 10 year-olds among us something powerfully inspirational and real to fill their imaginations with? What are they supposed to get excited about?

Where does the passion and focus come from to create the next generations of great American scientists and engineers? What is that worth to us?

The total cost of this multi-year project $2.5 billion. To me, when I compare that figure to everything else we as a nation fund, this is a tiny amount of money with an absolutely huge return on investment.

But that’s just me. I know there are people who have other ideas about our investments in space exploration.

All I ask is that when you think about the Curiosity rover now en route to Mars, you think about it not in terms of its cost – but in terms of its value to us and to our future.

If you want to be the best at something, then do what you love, love what you do, and always practice, practice, practice!

The Mars Science Laboratory mission is a spectacular example of America doing what we do best, and it shows us the way to even greater frontiers in science. It gives the 10 year-olds of today something amazing to get starry-eyed about that will propel them through school and into an adulthood of good-paying jobs doing work that we do better than anyone else because we love doing it more than anyone else.

What is that worth to us?

The first official day of Winter is coming up on December 21 (when the sun occupies the Winter Solstice point and traverses its lowest arc across the sky). That means the winter stars are starting to appear in the east after sunset, containing some of the most recognizable and popular constellations of the entire sky.

"The Seven Sisters"

The Great Square of Pegasus, a wonderful guidepost to the Autumn stars, is still prominent in the sky. It can point us to other bright stars and constellations. But now one of the most famous star clusters of the entire sky is rising out of the east: The Pleiades! Popularly known as “The Seven Sisters” from Greek mythology, it’s clearly visible to the naked eye even if you have some suburban sky glow. The Pleiades is best viewed through binoculars, revealing many stars that look more like “80 sisters”! We’ll take a closeup look at this star cluster to see what makes it so special  and why everyone knows the name of this cluster in Japanese.

December is also the month that the famous constellation of Orion the Hunter becomes visibe in the eastern sky. As one of the most recognizable constellations, it becomes the key “pointer” for locating other famous Winter stars like Sirius (in the Big Dog), Procyon (in the Little Dog) and Aldebaran (in Taurus the Bull).

The Geminid Meteor Shower comes to a peak on the nights of December 13 and 14. Unfortunately, the Moon will be in a bright phase (a waning gibbous that looks like a bulging ‘half moon’ rising an hour or two after sunset).  This will wash out all but the brightest meteors but don’t worry – The Geminids are well known for fast moving fireballs! Best times to observe the Geminids will be late evening and into the early morning hours.

Tickets are just $1. Members are free.

The Light Before Christmas is the story of two children rescued on Christmas Eve by their friend the Candleman—a happy fellow who reads to them the classic tale, “The Night Before Christmas.” Magically, the children become characters in the poem and experience the ultimate holiday adventure. This stop-motion animated film will spark the imaginations of young and old.

There will also be an additional evening showing of Flying Monsters 3D during this time. For show times please visit our website clarkplanetarium.org for more information.

If you are a member of the Clark Planetarium, you can enjoy a complimentary admission to any documentary film in the ATK IMAX and Hansen Dome Theatres. Not a member? Find out how you can support our science programs and enjoy great discounts.

On the morning of December 10, the Moon will move through Earth’s shadow producing a total lunar eclipse. For observers in Utah, the Moon will set about the time of greatest eclipse. Sharp-eyed observers should detect the Moon entering into Earth’s umbral shadow at 5:46 a.m. Look for the Moon in the west, about 20 degrees above the horizon. Totality begins at 7:06 a.m. At this time the Moon will appear about 5 degrees above the horizon and could be hidden behind mountains from some observing locations. Moonset for a flat horizon is 7:44 a.m. For the longest view of the eclipse, find an observing location with a clear horizon in the west-northwest.

Geometry of a lunar eclipse

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through a stream of debris given off by a comet. Particles that make up this debris stream typically range in size from pebbles to sand grains. As they enter Earth’s upper atmosphere at high speeds, they vaporize 50 miles above our heads, producing the slivers of light streaking across the sky that we call a meteor or “shooting star”.

Geminid meteor shower courtesy of National Geographic

Astronomers began searching for a comet as a source of the particles. Their search was unsuccessful until 1983, when NASA’s Infra-Red Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) spotted an object, several miles across, moving in about the same orbit as the Geminid debris stream. The object was named 3200 Phaethon. Oddly, Phaetheon seems more like an asteroid. It is rocky, not icy, and has no obvious tail. If Phaethon is an asteroid, how did it produce a stream of particles? Several possible explanations have been proposed. None are completely satisfactory. The mystery continues.

On a dark, moonless night, the Geminid meteor shower can produce as many as 120 meteors per hour for observers far away from city lights. However, this year the meteor shower occurs four days after the full moon. So, moonlight from a waning gibbous moon should greatly reduce the number of visible meteors. The shower peaks on December 14 at 11 a.m. MST, so observers in Utah should look on the nights of the 13th and 14th.

Flying Monsters 3D is a groundbreaking film that uses cutting-edge technology and CGI to bring the story of giant flying monsters and their prehistoric world to life. Two-hundred-and-twenty-million years ago dinosaurs were beginning their domination of Earth. But another group of reptiles was about to make an extraordinary leap: Pterosaurs were taking control of the skies. The story of how and why these mysterious creatures took to the air is more fantastical than any fiction.

Audiences of all ages will be in awe as they enter the world and experience as never before, REAL Flying Monsters – in 3D.

In Starry Tales, experience the Greek constellations and mythology in a captivating new show.Through the elaborately detailed 3-dimensional art of Kagaya Studios, we journey through the starry skies over thousands of years to reveal Greek legends, and their connection to the modern day.  The spectacular colors, poetic stories and moving soundtrack offer a beautiful astronomical experience for the holiday season!

To celebrate the film opening, we have two choices of sandwiches for you to choose from – a delicious 9oz. Cheeseburger or 9oz. Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Both are served piping hot and are paired with your choice of Classic Lays potato chips, Original Cheetos or Cheesy Doritos and a medium sized fountain drink, all for the amazing price of $3.50!

This discount offer is valid for a limited time only, November 4-7, 2011, so come in and let us fill your appetite for food and theater alike!