Private Parties
Want to have the Planetarium all to yourself?
Thomas Planetarium now offers Private Planetarium Experiences for small groups of up to 6 people.
- All programs occur at 5:30 p.m. Fridays - Sundays.
- Approximately 60 minutes.
- $80 fee per event; museum members receive 50% discount. Includes museum admission for a group up to 6 people. Email planetarium@anchoragemuseum.org to inquire about additional participants.
- Advanced registration helpful but not required; tickets will not be sold past 4 p.m. day-of event.
Interactive Quest
A private, educator-led, interactive experience. Combined with a planetarium movie, participants will focus on S.T.E.M. activities and solving challenges.
Planetarium Movie – Moonbase: The Next Step – WATCH TRAILER
Prepare for an immersive lunar experience that tells the story of the human endeavor to stay on the moon, visualizing the scientific and technological advances needed to safely travel 250,000 miles and survive the hostile and alien conditions.
Activity – Moon Adventure Game
Assume the role of astronauts living on the moon, researching, and performing experiments. Then, when a moonquake causes significant damage to your life support systems, work as a team to solve a series of challenges to survive.
Planetarium movie – Dinosaur: Passage to Pangaea – WATCH TRAILER
This animated adventure explains one of the greatest geological events in Earth’s history: the separation of the supercontinent Pangaea. Two children embark on a geology field trip back in time and learn about the mysterious process that created our present-day continents.
Activity – Identifying rocks and minerals
Test your knowledge of rocks and minerals in a series of classification and identification challenges, each more in-depth than the last. Complete all three challenges to earn your Jr. Geologist certification.
Planetarium movie – Two Small Pieces of Glass – WATCH TRAILER
Trace the history of the telescope from Galileo’s modification to a child’s spyglass – using two small pieces of glass – to the launch of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the future of astronomy. Explore the wonder and discovery made by astronomers throughout the last 400 years.
Activity – Build a telescope
Work together to construct your very own 50 mm refractor telescope to use at home. Limit one telescope per group.
Planetarium movie – Mars: The Ultimate Voyage - WATCH TRAILER
What will it take to get astronauts to Mars – and back – safely? This movie highlights NASA research and training initiatives that are preparing the next generation of astronauts who will head to Mars. Learn how creativity, collaboration, communication, and expertise in a diverse number of fields are key for the success of deep space travel.
Activity – Board Game
Play a cooperative board game and discover the ways NASA is working to protect astronauts from the five hazards of deep space travel. Work as a team to survive these hazards to land humans on Mars and return them safely to Earth.
Movie & Making
A private, educator-led, interactive experience. Combined with a planetarium movie, participants will design and create a hands-on art piece to take home.
Planetarium Movie – Seeing – WATCH TRAILER
Follow a photon’s creation and journey across the galaxy and into a young stargazer’s eye to reveal the wonder of sight. The photon’s journey includes full-dome imagery featuring humanity, landscapes, skyscapes, wildlife and space imagery.
Activity – Mixing Colors
See the invisible by looking at objects in ultraviolet and infrared light. Uncover the properties of visible light including reflection, refraction, color mixing and more by combining different materials to create a stained-glass art piece.
Planetarium Movie – Kiuguyat: The Northern Lights – WATCH TRAILER
During the winter months, those living above the Arctic Circle are treated to a display of vibrant colors and movements, as the aurora borealis fill the entire sky. Learn from Alaska Natives as they teach you the stories, celebrations and science of Kiuguyat, the Northern Lights.
Activity – Aurora Art
Using chalk pastels and cardstock paper, create your own northern lights display. Add in colorful streaks and ribbons that dance across your Alaskan mountain landscape.
Planetarium Movie – River of Bears – WATCH TRAILER
Observe Alaska’s iconic brown bears as they nurture cubs, fish for salmon, and play in their natural environment. This immersive, show plants you in the middle of the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, where more than 100 brown bears congregate each summer to bulk up for the harsh winter. Learn how the bears’ remarkable intelligence and instincts help them survive in the Alaska wilderness.
Activity – Landscape Art
Make your very own Alaskan landscape using layered pieces of construction paper. Populate your landscape with wildlife and foliage using stencils or free-hand drawing techniques.
Planetarium Movie – Out There (ages 10 and up) – WATCH TRAILER
For thousands of years science fiction has painted a scene of distant worlds. Now with new technology we have discovered many exoplanets where extraordinary forms of life could exist. Human curiosity has driven us to look outwards, beyond Earth, to understand the mysterious realms of the Universe.
Planetarium Movie – Exoplanets (ages 10 and under)
Go planet hunting outside our solar system. Visit gas giants in a deadly dance with their host stars, frozen rogue planets hurling through space, and new planets drifting within the Goldilocks Zone, an area where scientists believe Earth-like worlds may exist.
Activity – Exoplanet Art
Using oil pastels and satellite images of planets and moons in our solar system for inspiration, draw, blend and create an exoplanet art piece.
