Central Texas planetarium holds educational events ahead of total solar eclipse

KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) - There’s a lot of anticipation surrounding this year’s total solar eclipse in Central Texas and one local planetarium is getting people ready for the event with educational shows and talks.

The Central Texas College planetarium is a 360-degree dome that teaches people about astronomy by taking them through space and time.

“You’re immersed into it. So, you’re not just at a movie, where a movie theater is just straight in front of you, it’s all around you in our dome, so it just makes you feel like you’re a part of the show,” explained Kathryn Winston, the CTC planetarium director.

In honor of this once in a lifetime phenomenon, they’ve had back-to-back shows all weekend for both visitors and locals.

“We are the only planetarium within a 170 mile radius of here, so we have something really special for Central Texas that we want to share with everybody around here,” said Winston.

They’ve also had special presentations from the college’s own astronomer, who’s very excited to be able to witness this eclipse.

“This is gonna be great because in my lifetime there’ve been total solar eclipses, but I’ve never been able to get there,” shared Warren Hart, the CTC astronomer.

One of their most popular shows has been ‘Totality Over Texas’, which includes a live video from the 2017 total solar eclipse made by Rice University.

Winston explained that “it goes in detail about Texas, but it has a really cool part in it that shows what it’s actually going to look like outside, where it goes completely dark.”

“Recognizing what is happening, you know what to expect,” said Hart. “And then also when you see you can add a little bit more information to it.”

Tomorrow they will have two shows about totality during an eclipse in their planetarium, before moving everyone outside to watch it happen in person.

“We also have vendors, food trucks, coming out to celebrate with us and we’ll have a really good time outside,” shared Winston, “we have Bill Hecky coming in with our radio station on campus, that will kind of do a play by play of what we’re looking for and just kind of really enjoy the event together.”

Totality at the CTC planetarium is sure to be an incredible and educational experience so be sure to check it out.

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