The Illinois State University Planetarium will present a special advance screening of a documentary film on NASA’s Voyager space mission and a program previewing this month’s total solar eclipse.
The free advance showing of The Farthest: Voyager in Space will be held in the Planetarium at 7 p.m. Tuesday, August 15. Those in attendance will have the opportunity to see the documentary about the NASA Voyager space mission on the Planetarium’s full-dome projection system. The documentary will air on PBS stations nationwide on August 23.
The Farthest: Voyager in Space tells the captivating tales of the people and events behind one of humanity’s greatest achievements in exploration: NASA’s Voyager mission, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this August. The twin spacecraft—each with less computing power than a cell phone—used slingshot trajectories to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They sent back unprecedented images and data that revolutionized understanding of the spectacular outer planets and their many peculiar moons.
At 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 16, Planetarium Director Thomas Willmitch will present a free program previewing the August 21st total solar eclipse. Willmitch will discuss details of the eclipse and how to safely view this spectacular phenomenon. The 70-mile wide path of the moon’s shadow will trace across southern Illinois. Viewers in Central Illinois will experience a deep partial eclipse of the sun.
The Illinois State University Planetarium is located in the Felmley Hall of Science Annex, at the intersection of College Avenue and School Street, in Normal. For more information, please call the Planetarium’s Skyline at (309) 438-5007 or visit the Planetarium website.
