Exploring the Milky Way – The Sky Tonight
It’s the first week of the month. You know what that means… it’s time for The Sky Tonight!
The Sky Tonight
The Sky Tonight is held the first Wednesday night of every month. Every month we take a tour of the night sky, and then we focus on a specific topic. This month’s show on August 2 will explore our own Milky Way Galaxy.
What will you see?
It seems so obvious now, but our understanding of what a galaxy is dates from the early 20th century. Whereas we had previously determined our Earth was not the center of the universe, it was thought that our Sun was! Now we know our solar system isn’t even near the center of our Milky Way. This planetarium show will demonstrate how we learned our Galaxy is flat like a pancake, with spiral arms, and a supermassive black hole at the center about 27000 light-years away from us. Artistic representations of our Milky Way, like the one below, are built on decades of observations. This is what our Galaxy looks like, to the best of our current knowledge.
If you’re interested, you can get ticket info (the price also includes admission to the museum) here.
The wonderful folks from the San Diego Astronomy Association set up their telescopes (weather permitting), so you have a chance to do some astronomical observing after the shows. Under the dome, we never have to worry about the weather.
The Fleet Science Center posted their virtual events from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, including several of our Sky Tonight shows. Check them out here. Imagine how much better they are with the beautiful sky displayed on a 76-foot wraparound screen above you!
Hopefully we’ll see you soon at The Sky Tonight.
Wishing you clear skies!
If you’re interested in galaxies, check out this story: https://lisawillspace.com/2023/05/supernova-in-the-pinwheel/
