UofM Lambuth MD Anderson Planetarium

06/08/2026

BREAKING NEWS: ISS leak!

At 13:04 UTC on June 5, 2026, NASA ordered astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to put on their spacesuits, take shelter and prepare for evacuation. The instruction came as Russian crewmembers attempted to repair 2 worsening air leaks on their side of the station.

06/08/2026

Why not make your OWN ocean to celebrate World Ocean Day? All you need are a few simple ingredients and you're in business:

Did you know that most of the world’s oceans are interconnected and move around the Earth like a giant conveyor belt? The motion of the ocean occurs because of differences in density (heaviness) of waters. Learn how to make your own ocean in a tube with simple materials. Download the Kid-Friendly ...

06/08/2026

We've talked about it a lot, and tonight's the night! Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction and appear VERY close together in the Western evening sky. Have you seen them yet? They were stunning this weekend, so this evening and tomorrow promises to be exciting! Here's one more refresher just so you don't miss it:

Venus and Jupiter – the sky’s 2 brightest planets – are shining together in the west after sunset. They’ll be closest on June 8 and 9. But June overall offers your best opportunity to see them together. This video shows you where to look, when to look, and what you’ll see as these 2 bright...

06/08/2026

Our show this week is Astronomy Photographer of the Year, a stunning look at the best astrophotography of 2017, presented via the annual international competition sponsored by the Greenwich Observatory. You'll be amazed and delighted! Let's keep on with some pot pourri posts for this week, beginning with a salute to World Ocean Day - yes, NASA is BIG into Earth Science, because Earth is a PLANET, TOO!

This is a visualization of ocean currents around the world. Scientists use NASA’s ocean model, Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), to visualize the currents. The ECCO ocean circulation model incorporates observations from spacecraft, buoys and other in situ measurements to ...

06/08/2026

EXCITING

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

06/05/2026

You don’t want to miss the exciting show TimeSpace this afternoon at the Planetarium! Doors open at 1:15 for the 1:30 show! Then come back again at 3:45 for our Friday Summer Afternoon kids’ show, The Cowboy Astronomer! Doors open 15 minutes before showtime.

06/05/2026

Join the GLOBE Cup Challenge! During the World Cup from June 11 to July join the GLOBE program and collect environmental data where the world plays! More about the challenge:

During the World Cup, from 11 June to 19 July, join the GLOBE Program in collecting environmental data where the world plays soccer (football)!   Go to your local soccer (football) field, park, schoolyard, or anywhere people play, and take observations:

06/05/2026

We've been doing a lot of posts about the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter that's coming up early next week on Monday night/Tuesday morning, but are we going to get the best sky for it? The moon will be in the waning crescent phase, so it should be pretty dark, but what's the BEST phase for stargazing? Let's find out:

Most astronomers prefer to observe the sky when the moon is not visible. That’s because they want to look at planets, stars, galaxies, clusters, the Milky Way and nebulae. To see these deep-sky objects well, the sky must be dark, free of light pollution and moonlight.

06/05/2026

It's the first fun, fantastic Friday in June, so let's switch gears and talk about ROBOTS this month! Today, science fantasy meets science with WALKING robots (sound familiar?) that are slated to explore Mars!

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06/05/2026

IMPRESSIVE

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.