New Show Bows at TAMIU Planetarium Friday
Take a trip through space at the Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium with “New Horizons,” a new show premiering at TAMIU Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.
“New Horizons,” produced by Evans & Sutherland Digital Theater, allows audiences to explore the solar system from breathtaking landscapes to violent volcanic eruptions to Saturn’s rings.
The journey begins as Planetarium visitors follow a comet as it travels through interplanetary space. The show also takes viewers to the surface of all the planets and shows what life would be like on those worlds. On each of the exotic stops, real data and images from modern space probes are transformed into stunning 360 degree photo-realistic animation.
General admission tickets for this show cost $5 and tickets for TAMIU students, faculty and staff and children under 12 are $4. Buy a ticket for a second showing on the same evening, and save $2 off the second ticket.
Other shows currently showing at the Planetarium include: “Stars of the Pharaohs,” that brings the wonders of ancient Egypt up close and “Wonders of the Universe,” where audiences travel billions of years to witness the birth of the universe. Also, “Microcosm” takes viewers on a roller coaster ride inside the human body; “Kaluoka'hina, The Enchanted Reef,” an adventure story for young and young-at-heart and “Secret of the Cardboard Rocket,” two very imaginative children build a rocket from a large cardboard box and explore the solar system. Finally, “enTRANCEd,” is a music entertainment show that combines digital animation, laser beamwork, and live-performed visual effects inside the TAMIU theatre's 45-foot dome to a combination of modern and classic examples of Techno, Rave, and Trance styles.
Also available weekdays and during weekends is the downlink to NASA 24-hour programming on the Plasma TV above the lobby Planetarium door. All the latest developments in the space program and its findings are shown here first.
The TAMIU Planetarium has one of the few new generation digital projectors. Prior technology only allowed a view from the Earth; this projector allows viewing from any part of the known universe. Thus, one can travel to structures unseen, except to highly developed telescopes.
The Digistar 3 projectors use powerful graphics hardware and software to generate immersive full-dome images on the interior surface of a dome, integrating all-dome video, real time 3D computer graphics, and a complete astronomy package.
For more information and show schedule, visit the Planetarium on the Web at tamiu.edu/coas/planetarium or call 956. 326.2444.
For information on group rates, please call Laura Jimenez at 326.2463 or e-mail planetarium@tamiu.edu.
Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu