The Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium
+1 816-460-2020

Main engines start - liftoff in 3...2...1... HOLD UP! Are we sure we're ready to go to space?? Well, join Planetarium Specialist Patrick on Monday at 6pm for this week's livestream: Spaceflight 101! Take a detailed look at all the necessary rocket parts and components that carry our astronauts and satellites into orbit, and find out the techniques and tools scientists use to plan out and execute the complicated maneuvers that take us to space stations, the Moon, and beyond! This Monday, 6pm, LIVE right here on our Facebook Page.

If you enjoy our weekly livestreams with Planetarium Specialist Patrick Hess, be sure to come and experience an in-person Sky Station LIVE show under the dome at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium! It's the only 4K seasonal star tour in the lower Midwest, and it's happening daily Wednesday thru Sunday at 11:30am and 4:00pm. Sky Station LIVE is your one-of-a-kind journey through the ever-changing night sky and beyond. Go back in time and learn about the mythology that began to sh...ape our understanding of the world. Discover the many different jewels of the cosmos hiding just out of reach. See familiar evening sights like never before. Brought to you live by one of our expert planetarium specialists, using our brand-new projection system and software from world-renowned planetarium designer RSA Cosmos. Advance tickets at >> http://bit.ly/KCplanetarium IMPORTANT INFORMATION: In compliance with current City and County mandates, all guests to Union Station are required to wear masks covering both nose and mouth. The ONLY exemptions are for children 2 and under or those with disabilities requiring an accommodation. Accommodations for disabilities include a full-face shield or other covering that shields both nose and mouth. Guests not willing or able to follow this mandate should postpone their visit to Union Station.

This weekend, experience the sights and sounds of the season in a new and spectacular way with Laser Holiday Magic at The Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium. Featuring more than 35 minutes of favorite holiday classics (including new music never before featured at the planetarium), all brought to life in spectacular style with gorgeous laser choreography. Featured as part of our current Saturday and Sunday weekend lineup. 10:00am - Laser Holiday Magic 11:30am - Sky Station LIVE Season...al Star Tour 1:00pm - Laser Holiday Magic 2:30pm - Capcom Go! The Apollo Story 4:00pm - Sky Station LIVE Seasonal Star Tour With limited tickets available, we recommend purchasing online in advance >> https://bit.ly/GottliebPlanetarium Tickets just $8 ($4 for Members) PLEASE NOTE: Union Station is closely following and implementing COVID-19 guidelines from National, State, County and City health authorities. Social distancing and sanitization measures are in place across our campus and all attractions are being operated at significantly below the required 50% capacity. In compliance with current City and County mandates, guests to Union Station and all attractions, including the planetarium, are required to wear masks covering both nose and mouth. The ONLY exemptions are for children 2 and under and for those with disabilities requiring an accommodation. Accommodations for disabilities include a full-face shield or other covering that shields both nose and mouth. Guests not willing or able to follow this mandate should postpone their visit to Union Station.

This billowing tower of cold gas and dust rises from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula. The soaring tower is about 9.5 light-years high - about twice the distance from our Sun to the next nearest star. Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighbourhoods, where energy from young stars sculpts fantasy-like landscapes in the gas. The tower may be a giant incubator for those newborn stars. A torrent of ultraviolet light ...from a band of massive, hot, young stars is eroding the pillar. The starlight also is responsible for illuminating the tower's rough surface. Ghostly streamers of gas can be seen boiling off this surface, creating the haze around the structure and highlighting its three-dimensional shape. The column is silhouetted against the background glow of more distant gas. Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA

Join us for a seasonal laser show spectacular at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium! Laser Holiday Magic returns starting Saturday, November 21. Featuring more than 35 minutes of favorite holiday classics - including new tunes for 2020, never before featured at the planetarium - all brought to life in spectacular style with gorgeous laser choreography. Vibrant animations and gorgeous abstracts dance above your heads as the music takes you away from the hustle and bustle. It might... be cold outside, but it's nice and toasty under the dome! Gather up your loved ones and share the one of a kind experience that is Laser Holiday Magic. General admission tickets just $8, member tickets $4. For showtimes and tickets >> https://buff.ly/3oZ0XJD

Think you know our Solar System? Think again! Tonight on our weekly planetarium livestream, Planetarium Specialist Patrick Hess takes a deep dive into some of the most numerous yet most mysterious objects in our Solar System: MINOR PLANETS! We've covered most of the eight planets and many of their moons, but minor planets occupy a strange and very interesting place in our celestial neighborhood. Asteroids, Trojans, and Centaurs, Oh My! Please note: Patrick is out of the office this week, so today's show was pre-recorded. However, Patrick will be tuning in and watching live with us and ready to answer all your questions and reply to any comments. So be sure to say hi and ask any questions as you would during our regular livestreams, and Patrick will be ready to respond!

The crew of NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center earlier this afternoon ahead of their scheduled November 14 launch to the International Space Station. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission is the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploratio...n Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, are scheduled to launch at 6:49pm CT on Saturday, November 14, from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

In today's space news, a local discovery light years away! Researchers from the University of Kansas discovered a galaxy more than 5.25 billion light years away undergoing a rarely seen stage in its galactic life cycle, displaying the characteristics of having a black hole growing in its center while also generating new stars. "A galaxy undergoing a midlife crisis, as they described it. https://news.ku.edu//astronomers-find-puzzling-cold-quasar

Think you know our Solar System? Think again! This Monday on our weekly planetarium livestream, join Planetarium Specialist Patrick Hess for a deep dive into some of the most numerous yet most mysterious objects in our Solar System: MINOR PLANETS! We've covered most of the eight planets and many of their moons, but minor planets occupy a strange and very interesting place in our celestial neighborhood. Asteroids, Trojans, and Centaurs, Oh My! This Monday, 6pm, live on Facebook.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission has arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. In the next few days, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, topped by Crew Dragon, will be raised to a vertical position at the pad. The Crew-1 mission is targeted for liftoff at 6:49pm CT next Saturday, November 14. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Explorati...on Agency, to the International Space Station. The Crew-1 mission is a major step forward for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Commercial transportation to and from the station will provide expanded utility, additional research time, and broader opportunities of discovery on the orbiting laboratory. The station is critical for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight necessary for the journey to Mars. SpaceX photo

If you enjoy our weekly livestreams with Planetarium Specialist Patrick, be sure to come and experience an in-person Sky Station LIVE show under the dome at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium! It's the only 4K seasonal star tour in the lower Midwest, and it's happening this weekend, Saturday and Sunday at 11:30am and 4:00pm. Sky Station LIVE is your one-of-a-kind journey through the ever-changing night sky and beyond. Go back in time and learn about the mythology that began to sh...ape our understanding of the world. Discover the many different jewels of the cosmos hiding just out of reach. See familiar evening sights like never before. Brought to you live by one of our expert planetarium specialists, using our brand-new projection system and software from world-renowned planetarium designer RSA Cosmos. Advance tickets at >> http://bit.ly/KCplanetarium Roy Inman photos

Photographed 27 years ago today, Mercury is seen transiting the Sun on November 6, 1993. When Mercury transits the Sun (passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet) you can see it as a tiny black dot silhouetted against the Sun's disk. Transits of Mercury occur in May or November. The last transit took place on November 11, 2019. The next will occur on November 13, 2032. A typical transit lasts several hours. NASA photo

It's the perfect planetarium experience for the youngest of space fans! Join Elmo, Big Bird and Hu Hu Zhu on an adventure to the moon and to explore the night sky in One World One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure! This Saturday and Sunday at 10:00am. Our current weekday and weekend schedules: Wednesday thru Friday... 11:30am - Magic Tree House 1:00pm - Sky Station LIVE 2:30pm - Dinosaurs at Dusk Saturday and Sunday 10:00am - Big Bird's Adventure 11:30am - Sky Station LIVE 1:00pm - Magic Tree House 2:30pm - Dinosaurs at Dusk 4:00pm - Sky Station LIVE With limited tickets available, we recommend purchasing online in advance >> https://bit.ly/GottliebPlanetarium Please note: To help protect our guests and employees, all Union Station guests and employees must wear a face covering that covers the mouth and nose, at all times while at Union Station and in any of our attractions. This requirement does not apply to children under the age of 3 or to individuals who are unable to wear a face covering due to a medical condition.

Join us for a seasonal laser show spectacular at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium! Laser Hoiday Magic returns starting Saturday, November 21. Featuring more than 35 minutes of favorite holiday classics, all brought to life in spectacular style with gorgeous laser choreography. Vibrant animations and gorgeous abstracts dance above your heads as the music takes you away from the hustle and bustle. It might be cold outside, but it's nice and toasty under the dome! Gather up your l...oved ones and share the one of a kind experience that is Laser Holiday Magic. General admission tickets just $8, member tickets $4. For showtimes and tickets >> https://buff.ly/3oZ0XJD

This week we've been celebrating 20 years of continuous human presence on the International Space Station. During those 20 years, astronauts aboard the space station have conducted many scientific experiments in a way that cannot be done anywhere else. This research not only helps us explore farther into space, but it also benefits us back on Earth. To mark this 20-year milestone, here's a look at 20 scientific and technological breakthroughs achieved as a result of space station science. https://www.nasa.gov//r/news/iss-20-years-20-breakthroughs

Explore the Universe like never before at The Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium! Join us this week for our popular live guided star tour Sky Station LIVE and a great lineup of full-dome shows for space fans of all ages. Our current weekday and weekend schedules: Wednesday thru Friday: 11:30am - Magic Tree House 1:00pm - Sky Station LIVE... 2:30pm - Dinosaurs at Dusk Saturday and Sunday: 10:00am - Big Bird's Adventure 11:30am - Sky Station LIVE 1:00pm - Magic Tree House 2:30pm - Dinosaurs at Dusk 4:00pm - Sky Station LIVE For your safety and to follow social distancing guidelines, limited tickets are available to each show. To purchase tickets online in advance, visit >> https://bit.ly/GottliebPlanetarium Please note: All Union Station guests and employees must wear a face covering, covering both the mouth and nose, at all times while at Union Station and in any of our attractions. This requirement excludes children under the age of 3 and individuals who are unable to wear a face covering due to a medical condition

This spectacular image from the Herschel Space Observatory shows dust clouds associated with the Rosette Nebula, a stellar nursery about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the Monoceros constellation. To create the image, Herschel collected the infrared light given out by dust. The bright smudges are dusty cocoons containing massive embryonic stars, which will grow up to 10 times the mass of our Sun. The small spots near the center of the image are lower mass stellar embryos. The nebula itself is located to the right of the picture, along with its massive cluster of stars. Image Credit: ESA and the PACS, SPIRE & HSC consortia, F. Motte

Live behind-the-scenes tour of the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium with Planetarium Specialist Patrick Hess!