Museum open today 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Solar Superstorms / Live Sky Tour

Our star, the Sun, goes through an 11 year cycle, building from relative quiescence to substantial sunspot activity and eruptions of prominences across its surface. During solar maximum, the Sun can discharge floods of charged particles into space via coronal mass ejections. Most never cross paths with our planet, but those that do can affect space weather around the globe and spawn beautiful auroral displays. While most geomagnetic storms are relatively harmless, occasionally the Sun spews forth a storm of particles so extreme it becomes a superstorm, with the potential to wreak havoc on our technologically dependent society.

Discover the nature of our star and the danger it can pose.

open captioning available Open Captioning Available

Show Times

No public show times currently scheduled.

Available for booking for school groups.

Venue

The Faulkner Planetarium, Idaho's largest domed theater, features the latest in fulldome technology, capable of virtually transporting audiences around the world and to the universe's far-flung reaches. The theater can seat 144. Open captioning for the hearing impaired is available upon request for many programs.

What's Showing Now Directions

readers choice award for best planetarium 2025 herrett center #10

Available for K-12 and Group Reservations

Our star, the sun, goes through an 11 year cycle, ranging from relative quiescence to a substantial sunspot activity and eruptions of prominences across its surface. During solar maximum, the sun can discharge floods of charged particles into space by way of coronal mass ejections. Most never cross our planet's path, but those that do can affect space weather around the globe and spawn beautiful auroral displays. While most geomagnetic storms are relatively harmless, occasionally the sun spews forth a storm of particles so extreme it becomes a superstorm, with the potential to wreak havoc on our technologically dependent society. Discover the nature of our star and the danger it can pose.

Book This Show

You can schedule a private showing for school field trips or private events!

Private Event School Field Trip

Educational Concepts

  • Star formation
  • Supernovae
  • Plasma
  • Modeling the Sun with supercomputers
  • Solar dynamics
  • Magnetism
  • Sunspots
  • Coronal mass ejections
  • Auroras

Suggested Grades

6th through 12th+