The Planetarium at UT Arlington

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Today's Events

5:30 pm	Violent Universe
The beauty of a starlit sky conceals the violent forces at work within our universe. From the upheaval of a giant star that explodes to release its material into space, to a future encounter between the Earth and a large asteroid that is too close for comfort, we will witness the forces that hold the universe together and occasionally try to rip it apart.

Today's Moon Phase

Black Holes and Violent Universe Cancelled Saturday, February 13th

Due to our special Valentine's Day shows, we will be cancelling the 5:30 Black Holes and 7:00 Violent Universe public shows. All other Saturday shows will remain as scheduled. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Public Shows Cancelled Sunday, February 14th

Due to our special Valentine's Day shows, we will be cancelling ALL public shows on Sunday, February 14th. The public schedule will return to normal on Monday, February 15th. We apologize for any inconvenience.

This week's $2 Movie is The Proposal

Get ready for Valentine's Day at the Planetarium. We will be showing The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. It will be shown at the Planetarium on Wed, Feb 10th at 5:30, Fri, Feb 12th at 5:30 and Sat, Feb 13th at 2:30.

Astronomy and Stargazing: New Class for the Public

Astronomy! People are drawn to it naturally. Whether it's a gorgeous night sky far from city lights, an exquisite Hubble Space Telescope picture of colorful nebula or a powerful panoramic view of Mars, we admire the destinations beyond our planet Earth.

We'll explore all these and more in this class at the Planetarium at UTA. To learn more about the class, or to register, please visit the Continuing Education website.

Romancing the Stars

Looking for something romantic to do with your sweetheart for Valentine's Day? We have the answer: a special couples only event at the Planetarium.

Find out more about this great event on our events page.

Follow us on Facebook

UTA Planetarium is now on Facebook.

• If the black hole has a tunnel in a new universe,why haven't humans tried to explore it yet?
• There are a few reasons why humans haven't yet explored a black hole to see if there is a tunnel to another universe. Right now, astronomers and mathematicians have proven that it is mathematically possible that a black hole is a gateway to another universe -- sometimes called a white hole, or worm hole. But, we have no way to test if this is actually true. The closest black hole is many thousands of light years away, which means that if we were traveling at the speed of light - which is currently impossible — it would take a few thousand years to reach the black hole. Then, if we can imagine that we have made it to the black hole, once a person or satellite enters the black hole, we will no longer receive any transmissions from them because they will be caught in the black hole’s extreme gravity. This means that even if we could safely send someone through the black hole, we would never know what happened to them, regardless if they made it through safely or not.
• Is the earth really going to end in 2012?
• No, the Earth will not end in 2012. This is another hoax that has spread due to popular media. According to the hoax, the Earth will end on December 21st, 2012; the "last day" on the Mayan calendar. This however, is not the last day of the Mayan calendar, but the last day of the millenium, according to the Mayan calendar. On December 22nd, 2012, the Mayan Calendar will start over with a new millenium. Many of you may remember a similar hoax, Y2K, about 10 years ago, which also said that the world would end. These hoaxes have a tendency to spring up every few years, and there is never any truth to them. You can read more theories about the ending of 2012 on our articles page.
• What is a light year?
• A light year is a unit of distance. The distances to the stars are so great, it is inconvenient to use terms like miles or kilometers. So we use "light year." A light year is the distance a beam of light travels in a year. Light goes around 186,000 miles per second (in a vacuum) and in a year travels almost six trillion miles. Now, instead of saying Alpha Centauri is 25,000,000,000,000 miles away, it is much easier to say "around 4.3 light years" away. As a consequence, things we see in space are also removed from our own time. The light reaching Earth now from Alpha Centauri left 4.3 years ago. So we are actually seeing what the star looked like 4.3 years ago, even if we use a telescope. Other visible stars are dozens to hundreds of light years away, and the galaxies are millions and billions of light years away.

View more and submit your own questions to Ask the Astronomer

Now Showing

$2 Movie

See your favorite movies on a REALLY BIG SCREEN.

Wednesday	05:30 pm
Friday	05:30 pm
Saturday	02:30 pm

Black Holes

Take the ultimate journey in space and time! Learn how mammoth stars make a black hole and help figure out where they might lead.

Sunday	02:30 pm
Saturday	05:30 pm

Secret of the Cardboard Rocket

Join two children on a magical journey through the Solar System, aided by a talking astronomy book, a cardboard rocket, and a vivid imagination.

Saturday

01:00 pm

Unseen Universe: The Vision of SOFIA

Take a flight on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and discover the secrets of our unseen universe.

Sunday

01:30 pm

Violent Universe

The beauty of a starlit sky conceals the violent forces at work within our universe.

Sunday	03:30 pm
Tuesday	05:30 pm
Saturday	07:00 pm