Starry Nights Live!

Starry Nights Live! is showing at the Kendall Planetarium on Wednesday, October 14, from 1 PM to 3 PM. It's a live presentation that takes the night sky of the current month and turns it into a dance of light and sound, with the planets and constellations of October taking center stage. It's recommended for ages 10 and older.

If you haven't spent much time in the dome, the Kendall Planetarium is a 200-seat, 52-foot domed theater at OMSI, and it's one of the most technologically advanced planetariums in the Pacific Northwest. It runs on Sky-Skan's DigitalSky Dark Matter simulation system, with JVC Reference Series projectors that put out an ultra-deep 160,000:1 native contrast ratio and 2,000 lumens per projector. The full-dome projection and sound system is powered by high-spec NVidia graphics computers, so the stars and planets you're looking at are rendered with a lot of precision. The venue also houses a laser show installation with six Rainbow FX projectors putting out around 15 watts of laser light—a big jump from the less than three watts the previous system managed.

Starry Nights Live! is one of the planetarium's daily presentations, so it's part of a regular schedule rather than a one-off event. The show changes every month to match the sky overhead, which is why it's a different experience depending on when you go. The museum also offers admission assistance, financial aid, and accessible services to the community. Tickets are $5 per person with a field trip reservation, and the show runs from 1 PM to 3 PM at the Kendall Planetarium, located inside OMSI at 1945 SE Water Ave in Portland.