William M Thomas Planetarium

Wow. What a fantastic show. Tonight was Black Holes. Nick Strobel is an amazing fount of information. What a great secret on campus of Bakersfield College. Free parking when you go to the show. In the small side so order your tickets early online. Seniors and children $6. Adults $8. The one drawback is the $3 per ticket service charge. That adds up quickly if you have a large group.

You don't have to be a nerd to love the planetarium. Okay, maybe just a little but being smart is totally cool. And having unique science-y facts to throw around at parties makes you the uber-cool friend. At least that's what I tell myself.The boyfriend and I first ventured to the William M Thomas Planetarium at Bakersfield College about three years back. We wanted a unique date night experience and for less than the cost of a movie ticket, we got it. It seems most all of these shows sell out way ahead, so plan accordingly. The show started around 7:30pm and doors opened at 7pm. The place was super crowded, but we were lucky enough to find some seats towards the back. I did hear that seating towards the back of the wall are the best. You'll be able to experience 30 minutes of night sky, where the professor points out the same sky that you would see if not for light pollution. Following, was a 30 minute film. What it covered I'm not entirely sure I remember. But it was pretty interesting. I highly recommend the planetarium for an interesting date night and supporting our local community college!

This was such a cool experience that I am so happy to share! My husband and I purchased our tickets for one of the public shows on vallitix.com for $7/each (plus fees) and later received them in the mail. You can also get tickets in person at the Bakersfield College (BC) ticket office on campus. We weren't sure what to expect, but I had seen the different shows listed in the newspaper and knew this was something I wanted to check out. They host about 6 shows in the fall and spring. Check out their website or Vallitix for info and show descriptions. Additionally, these shows usually sell out- so plan ahead. I am a BC alumnus and had no idea where the planetarium was even located on campus. Once there we had to follow signage. Park by the football field. The planetarium is located on the second floor of the math building. Additionally, we paid for a day parking pass--just as a side note. Not sure if they ticket or not that late in the evening. The shows are at 7:30pm and doors open at 7pm. We walked in to a dark room and picked our seats under a large dome. The show we saw was titled "Earthquake." At 7:30pm the doors were closed and locked and the magic began. A professor explained to us that this planetarium uses a Chronos star projector that duplicates the current night sky. And, what we were seeing above would be also seen outside if we didn't have so much light pollution. He was able to give us fascinating info and facts about different stars and constellations (especially the Sirius star!!). He kept all of us interested and spoke for about 30 minutes. He also was able to rotate the entire night sky so our necks didn't get sore from looking up at weird angles. This was so educational! But it didn't stop there. Next we watched a 30 minute film about earthquakes and more specifically the SF earthquake and fault line in California. This video was projected across the dome and was cool to watch as well. This experience was so wonderful and it's definitely something to check out. Kids would love it too!