Augustana hosting open house for John Deere Planetarium

Check out the wonders of the night sky when Augustana College opens its planetarium for an open house.

The John Deere Planetarium will be open to members of the public on Saturday, November 9 for the annual fall open house from 7 – 8:30 p.m. The planetarium is located at 820 38th Street and will feature indoor and outdoor programs led by planetarium director Dr. Lee Carkner. Admission is free.

Events include a planetarium show where the wonders of the night sky will be presented on the facility’s 30-foot dome. Star gazers can see views of astronomical objects, including the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn from the telescopes at the Carl Gamble Observatory. The Getz-Rogers Gallery will be open, with images of celestial objects and a quarter-ton piece of the Canyon Diablo meteor.

The Fryxell Geology Museum will be open during the event, featuring one of the best collections of minerals and fossils in the Midwest. The museum has a wall of glowing, fluorescent rocks, a cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull and a complete 22-foot-long skeleton of Cryolophosaurus, a large crested carnivorous dinosaur discovered in Antarctica in 1991 by Dr. William Hammer, a professor at Augustana.

Observing areas are unheated, so visitors are asked to dress appropriately. In case of cloudy conditions, telescope views may not be possible, but the indoor programs will still take place.

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