The William M Thomas Planetarium will offer a geology-theme show for the fall schedule, "Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Planet" on Thursday, October 20, from 7:30 to 8:30 PM. (This is also the day of the Great American ShakeOut.) Doors will open 30 minutes before the show starts for seating and will be closed during the one-hour program with no late admittance. Tickets are available for $8/adults and $6/seniors and children 5-12 years old from Vallitix only (tickets will NOT be sold at the door) starting September 23. The William M Thomas Planetarium is on the second floor, northwest end of the Math-Science Building, Room 112. The map below shows you where is the planetarium. No food, drink, or gum/candy is allowed in the planetarium. Children must be 5 years or older. See the Planetarium's Map page for directions to the Planetarium and Parking Information.

The one-hour show will begin with a short tour of the evening sky using the planetarium's Goto Chronos star projector followed by the 23-minute all-dome presentation from the California Academy of Sciences called "Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Planet" using our Spitz SciDome projector. Narrated by Benjamin Bratt, the show begins with an all digital, recreation of the 7.9-magnitude 1906 San Francisco earthquake, followed by a scientific dissection of the event—including views of the underground fault plane and the propagation of seismic energy waves based on supercomputer simulations. We then embark on a high-speed tour of the past 200 million years, witnessing the formation of the Atlantic Ocean, flying over the cradle of humanity in Africa’s Great Rift Valley, and visiting sites of historic earthquakes in India, China, and Japan—including the 9.0-magnitude Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.  The show ends with a look at the modern building strategies used by scientists and engineers for a safer and better prepared future.

Map to Planetarium

Also see the map section of the website for a more detailed map to the planetarium, disabled access and driving directions. 

Webpage contact: Nick Strobel