San Juan College Planetarium

08/28/2026

Although there were some pesky clouds, we at SJC Planetarium had some good views of the deep partial lunar eclipse last night! Out of respect for our Navajo / Diné patrons who do not feel comfortable seeing these images, I am posting selected photographs of the progress of the eclipse in the comments section only. However, I did get a photo of Saturn just rising over the buildings during the latter part of the eclipse and I have posted that here - enjoy!

08/25/2026

Greetings to all planetarium patrons and skywatchers of all ages! Below is my tentative schedule for SJC Planetarium's AstroFridays for the new academic year!

SJC Planetarium Public Shows for 2026-2027

AstroFridays and Special Events(SE)

September 18 - Flight to the Moon: LRO and LCROSS (fulldome)
October 16 - The Astronomy of Harry Potter
November 13 - From Earth to the Universe (fulldome)
December 5 - Luminaria Stargaze
December 11 - The Star of Bethlehem
January 15 - Navajo Skies (fulldome)
February 12 - Tour of Mars
March 5 - Living Worlds (fulldome)
April 9 - Cosmology (fulldome)
May 7 - Solar Quest (fulldome)

Show times for May AstroFridays are at 7:30 & 8:30 p.m., with stargaze (weather permitting) following at 9:30 p.m. All other AstroFridays, unless otherwise indicated, are at 6:30 & 7:30 p.m., and stargaze afterwards (weather permitting) is at 8:30 p.m. The planetarium reserves the right to substitute shows. It is also possible (though not probable) for there to be a change in a show's date due to unforeseen circumstances. Special events (SE) will have unique schedules to be announced.

web: https://www.facebook.com/sanjuancollegeplanetarium
e-mail - [email protected]
phone - 505-566-3361

San Juan College Planetarium offers educational and entertaining astronomy presentations with planetarium shows and telescopic stargazing!

08/21/2026

Deep Partial Lunar Eclipse on the Evening of August 27!

On the night of August 27, Farmington will experience a deep partial lunar eclipse immediately after sunset! Actually, the penumbral, or mild-shadow, part of the eclipse will begin at 7:24 pm, before sunset and before the Moon rises! The umbral, or deep-shadow, part of the eclipse will begin at 8:34 p.m. local time, when the leading edge of the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow will just barely touch the surface of the Moon. While this is technically just a partial eclipse, it will be very nearly as dark as a total eclipse at maximum coverage! Maximum eclipse will occur at 10:13 p.m., when 96.2% of the Moon’s surface area will be in the Earth’s shadow! Thereafter, the Moon will begin to exit the Earth’s shadow and the umbral eclipse will end at 11:52 p.m., when the trailing edge of the Earth’s shadow moves off the Moon’s surface. The penumbral stage of the eclipse will end at 1:02 a.m., August 28.

While the eclipse is well-placed for viewing in the evening hours, my astronomy students will be in class for part of that time. However, I will hold a telescopic eclipse observing session starting at 9:00 p.m. while the eclipse is deepening, and will end at 10:30 p.m. when the eclipse begins to lighten up. The observing site will be in the Connie Gotsch Courtyard, where the SJC Planetarium’s AstroFriday stargazes are normally held. The event will be free of charge, weather permitting, of course. If the weather is cloudy or rainy, however, the observing will have to be cancelled.

For more information, you can email me at [email protected]. Alternatively, you may call 505-566-3361.

And for those of you who follow SJC Planetarium's AstroFridays, our show schedule for 2026-2027 will be posted shortly - stay tuned! 😉

Send a message to learn more

05/01/2026

May 8 is AstroFriday!

For the month of May, we will present “Sunstruck,” a solar fulldome show about 21 minutes in length. Travel back to the beginning of time and experience the birth of the Sun. Discover how it came to support life, how it threatens life as we know it, and how its energy will one day fade away. After the fulldome video, a live night sky show will be presented to bring us up to date as to what to observe in the evening sky of May! We will also give out free spring sky maps while supplies last! The show times are at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., the to the lateness of sunset. There is no admission charge, but there is a maximum seating capacity of 60 in the planetarium, so seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to preserve dark-adaption, there is no late admittance into the planetarium once the show has started!

If weather permits, we will offer a free public stargaze with telescopes at 9:30 p.m. in the courtyard behind the planetarium after the last show. The stargaze will last a maximum of one hour. There is no capacity limit for the stargaze, so come and view with us the majestic planet Jupiter and its Galilean moons! We will also view the “double-double” stars Alcor and Mizar, and our binary North Star, Polaris! If weather conditions are particularly clear, we may also see such deep-sky objects as the Beehive Cluster in Cancer, the Coma Berenices Star Cluster, the globular cluster M13 in Hercules, the Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo, and the galactic pair, M81 and M82, in Ursa Major!

For questions concerning the program, please call David Mayeux at 566-3361.

Send a message to learn more

04/23/2026

April 24 is AstroFriday!

Our April presentation at the Planetarium will be “Forward! To the Moon,” a fulldome video produced about humankind’s return to the Moon! Kari Byron from Crash Test World and MythBusters launches us on a journey beyond the Earth towards a sustainable future in space. NASA’s 21st century Artemis program, named after the Greek Moon Goddess and twin of Apollo, is the next step in our mission to explore the universe and land the first woman and person of color on the surface of the Moon. Produced by Fiske Planetarium in collaboration with TEND Studio. After the video, there will be a traditional sky show with stars on the ceiling, as well as photographic updates on the recently completed Artemis II mission! The presentation will be roughly an hour long. We will also give out spring sky maps, while supplies last! The show times are at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. There is no admission charge, but there is a maximum seating capacity of 60 in the planetarium, so seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to preserve dark-adaption, there is no late admittance into the planetarium once the show has started!

If weather permits, we will offer a free public stargaze with telescopes at 8:30 p.m. in the Connie Gotsch Theatre courtyard after the last show. The stargaze will last a maximum of one hour. There is no capacity limit for the stargaze, so come and observe with us! We plan to be able to view the First Quarter Moon, and the bright planet Jupiter and its Galilean moons! We may also be able to view the colorful double star Gamma Andromedae, and our binary north star, Polaris! If weather conditions are exceptionally good, we may also see such deep-sky objects as the M81 and M82 galaxies and the Orion Nebula (M42)!

For more information, please feel free to call David Mayeux at 566-3361, or e-mail at [email protected].

Send a message to learn more

04/01/2026

The Artemis II mission has successfully launched! Astronauts Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen are on their way to the Moon, giving humankind its first trip to our nearest celestial neighbor in over 50 years! You can follow along with updates on nasa.gov, and there is a real time calculator on that site which tracks the mission elapsed time, velocity, altitude, and distance to the Moon. This is truly a historic event in human spaceflight!

You can see a graphic of the planned flightpath of Artemis II at this URL:

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/artemis-ii-map-508.pdf?emrc=696d584d7d299

03/26/2026

March 27 is AstroFriday!

Join us for our AstroFriday presentation of “The Astronomy of Harry Potter,” a live sky show and tour of the heavens, identifying astronomical objects whose names appear in the popular Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling and corresponding movies! Did you know that the character of Sirius Black (Harry’s godfather in the series) was named for the brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth? And that it is also the chief star in the constellation of the Great Dog (i.e. – the animal that Sirius could shapeshift into in the stories)?! He isn’t the only character with an astronomical name…! You will learn MANY of the characters’ names in the series which have astronomical origins, as well as learn to locate them in the real sky with your own eyes! We will also give out spring sky maps while supplies last! The show times are at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. There is no admission charge, but seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to preserve dark-adaption, there is no late admittance into the planetarium once the show has started!

If weather permits, we will offer a free public stargaze with telescopes at 8:30 p.m. in the Connie Gotsch Theatre courtyard after the last show. The stargaze will last a maximum of one hour. There is no capacity limit for the stargaze, so come and observe with us! Dominating our viewing will be the waxing Gibbous Moon, the mighty Jupiter, and possibly a glimpse of the distant planet Uranus! We also plan to view the colorful double star Gamma Andromedae, and our binary north star, Polaris! If weather conditions are exceptionally favorable, we may also see such deep-sky objects as the fanciful “E.T. Cluster” in Cassiopeia, the Seven Sisters star cluster, the majestic Orion Nebula, and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer!

For more information, check out our page at https://www.facebook.com/sanjuancollegeplanetarium/
or the San Juan College website at https://www.sanjuancollege.edu/planetarium/
or call David Mayeux at 566-3361,
or e-mail at [email protected]

The San Juan College Planetarium offers students and community members the opportunity to participate in exploring the world of astronomy. Showings are free!

03/02/2026

Total Lunar Eclipse on the Morning of March 3!

On the morning of March 3, Farmington will experience a total lunar eclipse in the early hours of the morning! A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are all in such a precise alignment that the Moon actually passes completely into the deep part of the Earth’s shadow. All direct sunlight is temporarily blocked from hitting the Moon’s surface! The penumbral, or light-shadow, part of the eclipse will begin at 1:44 a.m. local time. This part of the eclipse is very subtle and is analogous to looking at the Full Moon with light sunglasses on. However, the umbral, or deep-shadow, part of the eclipse is obvious to the naked eye, and will begin at 2:50 a.m. local time, when the leading edge of the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow will start to obscure the face of the Moon! At 4:04 a.m. all of the Moon will be in the Earth’s shadow, beginning the phase of totality. The Moon, however, will probably not be all dark - it will likely appear to be a dark reddish, or even orange, color! This has to do with the fact that the Earth’s atmosphere acts like an eyeglass lens and will bend light rays near the red end of the spectrum so that they project onto the Moon slightly! The midpoint, or maximum, of the eclipse will be at 4:33 a.m. and the Moon will begin to come out of the Earth’s shadow, ending totality, at 5:02 a.m.! The umbral eclipse will end at 6:17 a.m., when the trailing edge of the Earth’s shadow moves off the Moon’s surface. The ending penumbral part of the eclipse will not be visible from Farmington, due to the fact that the Moon will have already set below the horizon, not to mention the fact that light from the Sun will be illuminating the dawn sky!

Since this event occurs at such an early hour, we will not cover the event with telescopes. However, a total lunar eclipse is a very easy event to view with the naked eye, weather permitting! Even a standard pair of binoculars will enhance viewing, as will a backyard telescope, obviously. The Moon will be in the southern part of the constellation Leo, east-southeast of Leo’s brightest star, Regulus.

For more information, please email David Mayeux at [email protected] or call at 505-566-3361.

Send a message to learn more