Bays Mountain Park announces two-part planetarium program

Bays Mountain Park is pleased to announce the first of a two-part program is now showing in the planetarium throughout the summer. Each program will feature short stories representing the perspective of different cultures or indigenous societies from around the globe.

“One Sky: To Seek Far” is the first part now showing through August 30 and includes two stories highlighting the theme of developing tools – “Thunderbird” and “Jai Singh’s Dream.” Each story features exceptional, unique art in the telling of the story.

About “Thunderbird” – The sky is a powerful tool for measuring time, and for the Diné, or Navajo people, the Thunderbird transcends space and time, revealing the passage of seasons and connecting earth and sky.

About “Jai Singh’s Dream” – Amid the political chaos of 18th-century India, a great ruler brought the order of the skies down to earth. His giant instruments allowed for precise measurements of stars, planets and the passage of time—and his observatories still stand today.

“True to Bays Mountain fashion, we’ll expand upon these two short stories using our theater’s unique projectors,” said Planetarium Director Adam Thanz. “We’ll connect the feather of the Thunderbird story to how we see the night sky and explore other ancient observatories around the world.”

“One Sky: To Seek Far” is now showing as the main planetarium program through August 30. The show will take place Tuesday through Friday at 4 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.

The 35-minute show is followed by a live tour of the night sky using the planetarium’s optical star projector. The second part of the program – “One Sky: Finding Patterns” – has not been scheduled yet but will be shown at a future date.

The alternate planetarium feature showing Saturdays and Sunday at 2 p.m. through August 30 will be “Appalachian Skies.”

“Appalachian Skies” takes visitors on a majestic tour of the current evening sky using the Zeiss optical star projector instrument. This live presentation is enhanced with additional content from our VELVET LED projectors for a wonderful, immersive experience.

Due to the live nature of the program, and the natural progression of the changing night sky throughout the seasons, each presentation will be unique. Learn what fascinating mythological constellations, from Ancient Greece and other cultures, will be easily visible. Find out what planets are easily seen as well. Visitors will take this knowledge home and be able to locate these celestial sights for themselves.