Burke Baker Planetarium
H M N S b u r k e b a k e r p l a n e ta r i u m
Current Events Coming to You in Full Dome Unlike movie studios and movie theaters, the Burke Baker Planetarium can produce and screen feature films quickly and offer live shows to capture a special event as it happens. Two unique opportunities are coming our way this fall: the Exploration Vessel Nautilus diving at the Puerto Rico trench and the arrival of the bright Comet Ison.
Comet Ison Meanwhile, Comet Ison passes Mars in early October on its way toward the sun. This is a rare large sun-grazer comet that will come within a solar diameter of the sun on Thanksgiving Day. If the sun does not destroy it, this comet should become a spectacular apparition in the predawn sky, reaching the brightness of the planet Venus. The Planetarium show IMPACT! features comets and asteroids that roam the inner solar system, describing where comets originate, what they are made of, and when they become spectacular. Astronomers monitor the sky for intruders like Comet Ison, that appear with little warning from the distant Oort Cloud.
NASA Hubble Space Telescope: Comet ISON, April 1, 2013
In November, Comet Ison may be visible in the predawn southeastern sky. If the comet survives its close encounter with the sun, it will light up the December sky, first in the morning and then throughout the night. Comet Ison passes over the North Pole on December 26, less than 40 million miles away from Earth. Comet Ison could be the most spectacular comet seen in Northern skies in 16 years.
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www.hmns.org/planetarium
a l s o s h ow i ng
ŠOcean Exploration Trust
Nautilus Live In the October Nautilus Live show you can talk with the Nautilus research team as the ship’s rovers explore the deepest trench in the Atlantic Ocean, looking for sea floor features and deep sea animals. Nautilus Live is presented every day at noon and 3 p.m. Nautilus LiveSM is a partnership of Sea Research Foundation, JASON Learning, and Ocean Exploration Trust. The Nautilus LiveSM program at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is generously supported by the Virginia and Ernest Cockrell Jr. Opportunity Fund, Chevron, the Tim and Debra Cejka Family Foundation, and Matt Assiff and Lisa Young.