AstroFriday: The Star of Bethlehem

Name: AstroFriday: The Star of Bethlehem
Start: 2024-12-13T18:30:00-07:00
End: 2024-12-13T19:30:00-07:00
Location: San Juan College Planetarium

Schedule

Fri Dec 13 2024 at 06:30 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

San Juan College Planetarium | Farmington, NM

The San Juan College Planetarium’s AstroFriday presentation for Friday, December 7, is The Star of Bethlehem: A Mystery Revealed. Show times are at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.
The video portion of this presentation explores possible astronomical explanations for the phenomenon known as The Christmas Star. Reconstructing the night sky around the time of the birth of Christ, the presentation yields stunning surprises about several celestial events occurring in the years surrounding that time.
Following the video there will be a live sky show depicting the night sky as it appeared nearly 2000 years ago, complete with time-lapse simulations of the movements of celestial bodies over several months and even years of time.
Winter sky maps will be given out while supplies last. There is no admission charge, and no reservations are taken or required, but there is a maximum seating capacity of 60 in the Planetarium, so seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to preserve dark adaption, no one will be admitted late once the show has started.
Weather permitting, a free public stargaze with telescopes will be held at 8:30 p.m. in the courtyard behind the Planetarium and the Gonnie Gotsch Theatre after the last show. The Stargaze will last a maximum of one hour. There is no capacity limit for the Stargaze.
Plan to view the King of the Planets, Jupiter, the Ringed Planet, Saturn and the colorful binary star, Gamma Andromedae. If weather conditions are favorable, there will be the possibility of viewing deep-sky objects including the glittering Double Cluster in Perseus, the fanciful “E.T. Cluster” in Cassiopeia, the glorious Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiades star cluster, and the majestic Orion Nebula.
Don’t miss this celestial viewing.
For further information, call David Mayeux at 505-566-3361, or [email protected]. The Planetarium show schedule and other information is available on the San Juan College Planetarium Facebook page.