• October Planetarium Preview: Autumn Sky Wonders

    This autumn, the evening sky will dazzle with a display of brightly lit planets and a colorful treasure trove of nebulae, star clusters and galaxies. Prefer something a little more ominous just in time for Halloween? Later this year, we’ll be able to easily view (with binoculars) a comet passing by the earth.

    MHCC Planetarium Director Pat Hanrahan will serve as an interstellar guide as he helps visitors to campus explore the visible autumn sky and explains where, when and what you’ll see this fall in the night sky.

    Hanrahan will present “Autumn Sky Wonders” on Tuesday, Oct. 2, and Friday, Oct. 5, with shows at 6 and 7:15 p.m. on both days. He will point out how to find your way around the autumn sky and where to look for some of its best objects. And some of what he’ll present fits quite well with the Halloween season.

    Visitors are encouraged to ask questions during each 45-minute live program. Children are welcome to attend. The MHCC Planetarium is wheelchair accessible. Admission for the general public is $5, and $2 for children (17 and younger) and for MHCC students (identification required). Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

    Hubble Space Telescope
    The Hubble Space Telescope captured this close-up image of part of the Witch’s Broom Nebula. This supernova remnant is about 2,100 light years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Photo credit: NASA.