Birth of Planet Earth

Birth of Planet Earth tells the twisted tale of our planet's origins.

Scientists now believe that our galaxy is filled with solar systems, including up to a billion planets roughly the size of our own. The film employs advanced, data-driven, cinematic-quality visualizations to explore some of the greatest questions in science today: How did Earth become a living planet in the wake of our solar system's violent birth? What does its history tell us about our chances of finding other worlds that are truly Earth-like?

Produced by Spitz Creative Media, NCSA's Advanced Visualization Lab, Thomas Lucas Productions, Inc., in association with Tellus Science Museum. This project has been made possible with support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Greater Philadelphia Film Office; funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

Ages 8+

Black Holes: Journey into the Unknown

Imagine a place where time stands still; where the universal order breaks down; where the unimaginable becomes reality. Welcome to the world of Black Holes.

Narrated by Academy Award winning actor Geoffrey Rush and presenting the latest scientific information, this new planetarium show brings to life all that is fascinating and extreme in the world of black holes. Witness what would happen if you got too close to one? What makes a black hole? How do we find them? Would you survive falling into one?

Discover what science has taught us about these most bizarre creations. Follow their story from an extraordinary idea of the late 18th century through to their unexpected detection almost 200 years later.

Narrated by: Geoffrey Rush

Ages 13+

Capcom, Go! The Apollo Story

An immersive, historical documentary that showcases the achievements of the Apollo program and what it took to put the first human on the Moon.

It introduces a new generation to the immense challenges they overcame and will inspire them to become the explorers, designers, engineers, thinkers and dreamers of the future.

Ages 8+

Climate Change in Our Backyard

As we develop a much larger picture about our Earth as a whole, we are coming to see it as a complex, interconnected, remarkable world, and one that humans have impacted directly. Explore the role of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the natural temperature variations that the Earth has experienced over millions of years, and how humans are affecting our planet today. How are scientists learning about our changing climate, and what strategies are people from all across the world taking to protect our future?

Climate Change in Our Backyard illuminates the story of how and why our climate is changing. From the remote mountain shack in the Colorado Rockies, through ancient bubbles in Antarctic ice, and into our own homes. Produced by Fiske Planetarium.

Ages 12+

DARK

The search for Dark Matter is the most pressing astrophysical problem of our time - the solution to which will help us understand why the Universe is as it is, where it came from, and how it has evolved over billions of years - the unimaginable depths of deep time, of which a human life is but a flickering instant.

We journey through completely immersive visualisations of Dark Matter evolution calculated upon some of the world's fastest supercomputers - cosmological visions on a truly vast scale, in which galaxies themselves are but points of light, distributed across far larger intergalactic structures of Dark Matter.

Ages 13+

Earth, Moon, and Sun

Explore the relationship between Earth, Moon and Sun with the help of Coyote, an amusing character adapted from Native American traditions. Coyote has many misconceptions about our home planet and its most familiar neighbors. His confusion about the universe makes viewers think about how Earth, Moon and Sun work together as a system and learn to distinguish between myths and science.

Learn the basics of fusion and solar energy and why the Sun rises and sets. Examine the Moon's orbit, craters, phases and eclipses. You'll even take a look at past and future space travel to our Moon ... and beyond!

Ages 5+

Escher's Universe

For the first time, see M.C. Escher's use of mathematics, astronomy, optics, crystallography and geometry to artistically explain very complex concepts addressed by Cosmology.

This show will take us to the artist's studio where his most iconic works are displayed. From this intimate and emotional place, we will visit Escher's particular universe and we will be surprised by his unique ability to join Science and Art. We will also explore how Escher's visit to the Alhambra in Spain changed the way he understood universe and had a great impact in his work.

Shapes, three-dimensional reconstructions, dual worlds, unreal buildings or impossible continuities reveal in this show his continuous search of knowledge.

Ages 8+

Extrasolar Planets

We live on a small planet that revolves around a medium sized yellow star. It is just one among many stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy. And yet, our star is special. It has planets. Are there planets that orbit other stars? If so, are any of them habitable worlds like Earth? If life developed on our planet, could it arise elsewhere? How can we find those other planets?

These are the questions that drive teams of astronomers around the world, on their search for extrasolar planets. This exciting new show describes how astronomers search for planets orbiting other stars.

Ages 10+

Firefall

Throughout history, the impacts from comets and asteroids have mercilessly shaped Earth's surface. This film describes objects from meteors - brilliant streaks in the night sky - to mountain-sized boulders hurtling through space.

Ages 10+

Meteorite and tektite fragments available for purchase at $6 each. If you wish to buy in bulk, please email us for availability and discounts.

Forward! To the Moon

Kari Byron from Crash Test World and MythBusters launches us on a journey beyond the Earth towards a sustainable future in space.

NASA's 21st century Artemis program, named after the Greek moon Goddess and twin of Apollo, is the next step in our mission to explore the universe and land the first woman and person of color on the surface of the Moon. Produced by Fiske Planetarium in collaboration with TEND Studio.

Ages 10+

Legends of the Night Sky: Orion

This laser show takes a lighthearted and imaginative look at the myths and stories associated with the constellation Orion, the great hunter of the winter sky. The show brings the mythological Orion to life in a fun-filled, animated adventure.

Ages 5+

Legends of the Night Sky: Perseus and Andromeda

Perseus and Andromeda is 18 minutes of full-dome, laser fun, while also teaching children and adults the Greek story about the stars.

Ages 5+

Nanocam: A Trip into Biodiversity

Nanocam explores the kingdoms of bacteria, protists and their stunning mechanism of motility, the amazing structure of fungi, the specializations of plants and the incredible complexity of the animal kingdom, seen through an electron microscope -- a breathtaking trip into the five kingdoms of living things. This unique program, based on a scientific approach and featuring images that have never been seen before, offers another dimension of reality, a reality that is measured in micrometers. Nanocam is a fascinating journey exploring life-forms that are invisible to the human eye and contribute to a better understanding of the world we live in.

Ages 10+

One World, One Sky

Join Big Bird and Elmo as they explore the night sky with Hu Hu Zhu, a new friend from China. Together they learn how the sky, even in different parts of the world, are still one and the same. They also take an imaginary trip from Sesame Street to the moon, where they discover how different it is from Earth.

Ages 3+

Supervolcanoes

Supervolcanoes is an immersive planetarium show that looks back at rare classes of eruptions that have marshaled the energy that lurks, like a sleeping dragon, beneath the surface of planet Earth. The program moves beyond Earth to explore the impact of giant volcanic eruptions around our solar system. Audiences will fly down to Neptune's frigid moon Triton, and onto the ultimate volcanic world: Jupiter's moon Io. On a visit to a legendary North American hot spot, Yellowstone National Park, the film asks: can a supervolcano erupt in our time?

Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch

Ages 10+

Two Small Pieces of Glass

Follows two students as they interact with a female astronomer at a local star party. Along the way, the students learn the history of the telescope from Galileo's modifications to a child's spyglass - using two small pieces of glass - to the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the future of astronomy. Aiming to engage and appeal to audiences of all ages, the show explores the wonder and discovery made by astronomers throughout the last 400 years.

Ages 10+