Mars planetarium show and talk Sunday at ‘Imiloa

Mars planetarium show and talk Sunday at ‘Imiloa

On Sunday, Aug. 5, NASA’s next generation Mars rover, Curiosity, will land at Gale Crater on Mars and continue the exploration for signs of life on the Red Planet. ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center will complement this occasion with an Exploring the Red Planet night from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Starting at 6 p.m. there will be a one-time viewing of the planetarium production Traveler’s Guide to Mars, based upon the guide book of the same title by William K. Hartmann.

The audience takes a tour of the mysterious landscapes of the Red Planet with a team of astronaut surveyors, soaring through a high-definition digital Martian landscape on a guided tour of the once-mysterious surface of Mars. Traverse ancient lake beds and channels in search of the history of Mars’ watery past and visit the most Mars-like places on Earth. Concluding the planetarium show, the planetarium operator will take a 3D journey to Mars and visit its past, present and what the future may hold for further exploration.

Following the planetarium show, Bobby Bus, an associate astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy and support astronomer at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility, will present details about NASA’s mission to find evidence that Mars sustained microbial life at one time. A live NASA webcast of Curiosity’s 7:30 p.m. landing will be available and Bus will provide time for questions and answers. The public can tune into the Curiosity’s landing at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.

“The Curiosity landing is an opportunity for the community to explore the planet Mars with us, highlight the new technology of the Mars rover, and show how the S.T.E.M (science, technology, engineering, and math) curricula can take us to other worlds,” said Shawn Laatsch, planetarium manager. Ticket price varies.