Messengers of Time and Space: Unveiling Astronomy's Next Frontier in a Free Fulldome Planetarium Show

Presentation theme: fulldome

This presentation introduces a new fulldome planetarium show, titled "Messengers of Time and Space," designed to illuminate the imminent revolution in astronomy driven by time-domain and multi-messenger observations. This free, immersive experience invites audiences to explore the dynamic cosmos and witness the transformative impact of real-time data on our understanding of celestial phenomena. 

The show weaves a story that looks back at humanity’s long history with a changing night sky. It explores how our perspective on the dynamic Universe is being revolutionized by observations of time-domain and multi-messenger phenomena — from the extrasolar interloper ‘Oumuamua, to powerful kilonova collisions/explosions that literally rattle the Universe with gravitational waves. 

Facilitated by funding from the National Science Foundation, the GEMMA project (Gemini in the Era of Multi-Messenger Astronomy) is upgrading the International Gemini Observatory with innovative new instrumentation and infrastructure to support time-domain and multi-messenger follow-up observations and has supported several educational and communications initiatives such as this planetarium program.

The program will be distributed freely to the planetarium community starting in late 2024 in 4k fulldome format. Email info@noirlab.edu to get added to the mailing list.

Lars Lindberg Christensen (NSF NOIRLab)