Presentations for the General Public
Although we are primarily a school facility, we do offer programs to the general public free of charge during the summer and a limited offering during the school year. Most of our publicly presented programs during the school year are the same educational programs shown to our students. There are nine such programs during the school year.
Summer 2013
Public Program Schedule
During these summer presentations, we will tour the night sky as seen that night in El Paso, learning the constellations of the summer. We will discuss the exciting new discoveries of real planets orbiting other stars; and, we will present the digital planetarium program, Perfect Little Planet!
Perfect Little Planet takes us on a fantastic ride through our solar system with an alien family in search of the ‘perfect little planet’ for their vacation!
Hang on tight as we fly among the planets and moons, land on Pluto, slide down the ice cliffs of Miranda, explore Mars and so many other amazing locations throughout our solar system!
Perfect Little Planet takes us on a fantastic ride through our solar system with an alien family in search of the ‘perfect little planet’ for their vacation!
Hang on tight as we fly among the planets and moons, land on Pluto, slide down the ice cliffs of Miranda, explore Mars and so many other amazing locations throughout our solar system!
Here are the details...
The tickets for these programs will be FREE!
All tickets will be given out on a first come - first served basis 30 minutes before each program...
At least one person from each family attending must be in line to get these tickets.
There will be no advanced ticket giveaways or pre-scheduling (one ticket per person and only to those in line.)
Because of the popularity of these programs (and the very limited seating of 120 per program), we are expecting long lines with every program filling up. Thus, there can be no guarantee that families or groups of adults will be able to either get into the same program or sit together once inside the planetarium.
Also, we are expecting hot temperatures outside and in the planetarium hallway! So, please dress and plan accordingly!
No child will be admitted unless they are accompanied by a parent or an adult family member for the entire program!
All tickets will be given out on a first come - first served basis 30 minutes before each program...
At least one person from each family attending must be in line to get these tickets.
There will be no advanced ticket giveaways or pre-scheduling (one ticket per person and only to those in line.)
Because of the popularity of these programs (and the very limited seating of 120 per program), we are expecting long lines with every program filling up. Thus, there can be no guarantee that families or groups of adults will be able to either get into the same program or sit together once inside the planetarium.
Also, we are expecting hot temperatures outside and in the planetarium hallway! So, please dress and plan accordingly!
No child will be admitted unless they are accompanied by a parent or an adult family member for the entire program!
There will be no exceptions to this rule...
Dates and Times:
June: 24th - June 27th Monday - Thursday
1:00 p.m. (tickets at 12:30)
3:00 p.m. (tickets at 2:30)
7:00 p.m. (tickets at 6:30)
July: 8th - July 11th Monday - Thursday
1:00 p.m. (tickets at 12:30)
3:00 p.m. (tickets at 2:30)
7:00 p.m. (tickets at 6:30)
July: 15th - July 18th Monday - Thursday
1:00 p.m. (tickets at 12:30)
3:00 p.m. (tickets at 2:30)
7:00 p.m. (tickets at 6:30)
July: 22nd - July 25th Monday - Thursday
1:00 p.m. (tickets at 12:30)
3:00 p.m. (tickets at 2:30)
7:00 p.m. (tickets at 6:30)
The planetarium lobby doors will be unlocked around 12:00 p.m. each day of programing.
There will be no programs on Fridays
or during the week of July 1st - 4th.
The planetarium will be closed on those days.
--All programs, dates, and times are subject to change without notice--
A Product of the Space Age...
The planetarium was established in 1969 as part of an initiative to enhance science education in America, the El Paso Public School system, the Junior League of El Paso, and the National Science Foundation pooled their resources through the National Defense Education Act and constructed this gateway to the Universe. Since it's creation, the planetarium has been a place where well over a million students in the El Paso Independent School District, students from all around the El Paso region, and the general public have traveled to the far reaches of the Universe from the comfort of our 120 reclined seats.
In 2001, the EPISD renamed the planetarium after famous El Pasoan, Gene Roddenberry. Born in the Sun City in 1921, Gene Roddenberry was a radio man on bombers in World War II and became a famous Hollywood screen writer. He is most famous for his work in creating Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry's vision of a future where people of all origins, races, and creeds can work and live together in peace and understanding fits well with our school district's philosophy of achieving "Nothing Less Than Success" for all our students. It is just a part of how we prepare them to lead us all into the 'Final Frontier'...
A 21st Century Planetarium
In 2009, the EPISD received a grant from the Department of Defense. A very small portion of this grant went into a major upgrade of the planetarium. The old star machine and all of the hundred or so special effects projectors that were integrated to portray our education program content on the planetarium dome were replaced with a single all digital projection system called the Digistar. Starting with Digistar 3 and advancing to Digistar 4 in 2010, the future is here now! This powerful instructional tool allows the planetarium to offer programs both closely aligned with the Texas state and national science standards and visually exciting to experience. The Gene Roddenberry Planetarium strives to bring our student's science and astronomy education to a whole new level!
Here are the phases of the Moon for 2013
Click on the image for the Moon Phases this month!
The Planetarium is a part of the
Instructional Technology Services Department.
Click on the logos below to go to the I.T.S. website...
