The Marie Drake Planetarium

Where the stars always shine in Juneau, AK

2022 Shows and Events

School Group Presentations

  • Speed Transitions class
  • Moon and Tides for Sea Week.
  • Presentations for 1st and 5th graders aligned with science standards.


Harborview STEAM night

Community Group Presentations

  • Johnson Youth Center

Public Presentations 

Earth Our Blue Planet

James Webb Update and The Night Sky

Beyond the Sun movie for Kids

Gas Giants

The four gas giants in our solar system are Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. These are also called the Jovian planets. "Jovian planet" refers to the Roman god Jupiter and was intended to indicate that all of these planets were similar to Jupiter.

Rocky Planets

Rocky or terrestrial planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Halloween Family Show

  • Learn about Lunar eclipses. There will be one visible in Juneau in November.
  • Space News about DART program.
  • Howl at the moon. Halloween fulldome movie
  • Halloween space exploration humor:  Cassini, JWST, astronomical pumpkins, Halloween on the ISS and NASA Halloween.

James Webb Telescope First Images

Steve Kocsis will present the Night Sky - see how it would look in Juneau on a clear night.  Steve will talk about the Equinox and the constellations you can see now.  We will cover the planning and building of the James Webb telescope, the progress so far, and what kinds of science it will do.

Solar System - Kid's Show

Fulldome Films and Tour of Universe - First Fridays

Part of Juneau Arts and Humanities Council's monthly First Friday event. We show a variety of short fulldome movies on astronomy and space exploration. We also explore the solar system with our digital projector.

Night Sky and Down to Earth movie

  • Learn about current astronomical events and Juneau's Night Sky. See how the sky would look on a clear night. 
  • Down to Earth - An Astronaut's Perspective - a 2021 movie.
Ever wonder what it’s like to see our planet from space? NASA’s astronauts will take you on a journey to the International Space Station, exploring the life-changing experience of an orbital perspective. View Earth as you’ve never seen it before: through the eyes of an astronaut.

James Webb Space Telescope First Images

Learn where JWST is parked, spectography, and view the first images released by NASA in mid July.

Space News, Neutron Star and More

Join Dave and Quinn to learn about current space news, the fastest and heaviest known galactic neutron star and more!  Anyone may attend but show designed for older teens and adults.  

Moon and Forward to the Moon Movie

Movie from 2022 about the upcoming Artemis missions. 

Baroque Music Under the Stars

  • Enjoy music by Telemann, Handel and Sotzel performed by Rick Trostel  on trumpet..
  • Music will be accompanied by visuals of the Northern Lights, constellations and our solar system on the planetarium’s 30 foot dome.

Astrophotography

  • Learn how to do astrophotography in Juneau and see images captured by Dave Hanson.
  • Quinn will talk about visual astronomy which introduces the basics of observational astronomy, a fundamentally limitless opportunity to learn about the universe with your unaided eyes or with tools such as binoculars, telescopes, and cameras. Quinn will bring a telescope to show you.

The Planets with Music by Holst

    The Planets is an orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917.  Each of the suite's seven movement is named after a planet of the Solar System. Earth and Pluto were not included in the piece. Although Pluto was discovered and named a planet in 1930, and Holst lived until 1934, he had no interest in adding a movement. The piece had become so popular that it overshadowed his other music.

    We will visit the planets of our solar system and hear recorded music from The Planets.

    There have been many recordings of The Planets and it is a popular piece for orchestras to perform, including the Juneau Symphony.

Family Moon Show

  • Visit the Moon. Bring your questions about Earth's only natural satellite.
  • Find out why and how Santa goes to the Moon, with humorous presentation combining fact and fiction.. 
  • Movie: Max Goes to the Moon.  Show combines facts about moon and the story of Max (the dog) and a young girl taking the first trip to the Moon since the Apollo era.