Let the planetarium come to you with mobile planetarium sessions by Astro Thoughts. The 5-metre diameter planetarium is great for bringing the night sky and the contents of the Universe into your school for individual classes to enjoy. For younger audiences, a 30-minute show comprising two or three different films or experiences is ideal. For Years 5 and 6 and beyond, shows can be longer and more interactive in nature. Many may not have had a planetarium experience before and so it can be an exciting change on your own premises. Check out the list of shows available below.
Capacity and Hosting requirements
The dome seats up to 30 KS1, 28 KS2, 22 KS3, 18 KS4, and 15 KS5 students. The audience sit on the floor with floor cushions supplied with the planetarium.
The inflatable hemispherical dome needs to be located inside, out of the wind and rain, and has a required minimum footprint of 6 metres by 6 metres. Sufficient room must be left within the room to allow all fire exits to continue to be usable. The dome has a height of 3 metres and this needs to be clear of ceiling, rafters, lighting and projection equipment etc. The dome requires mains electricity and requires a normal 13amp domestic plug socket within 10 metres of the area.
Shows
There are a number of shows that can be watched in the planetarium depending on the age of audience members.
| Title | Age Group | Duration | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Stargazing | Reception+ | 15mins | Guided tour of the local night sky that evening using Stellarium |
| Cosmix | KS1+ | 14mins | A cartoon-based exploration into what it takes and what its like to be an astronaut aboard the ISS. Credit: BRNO (2018) |
| Say Hello to the Moon | KS2+ | 15min | The story of the formation of the Moon, its relationship with the Earth and why it is so fascinating. Credit: Bath Astronomers/Astro Thoughts Ltd (2025) |
| Trip to the International Space Station | KS2+ | 17mins | A real-action exploration into what it takes and what its like to be an astronaut aboard the ISS. Credit: Bath Astronomers/Astro Thoughts Ltd (2025) |
| Incredible Sun | Yr5+ | 12mins | Experience the true nature of the Sun and find out that it is far from being as calm as it seems at first glance. Credit: BRNO (2016) |
| Satelix | Yr5+ | 27mins | Satellite technologies help us every day. And they might enable us to live on this planet for another millennium. Credit: BRNO (2021) |
| The Sun – Our Living Star | Yr5+ | 25mins | The Sun has shone on our world for four and a half billion years. The light that warms our skin today has been felt by every person who has ever lived. Discover the secrets of our star in this planetarium show and experience never-before-seen images of the Sun’s violent surface. Credit: ESO (2018) |
| Two Small Pieces of Glass | Yr5+ | 23mins | Follow two students at a local star party. They learn the history of the telescope from Galileo’s spyglass to the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the future of astronomy. Credit: ESO (2016) |
| William and Caroline Herschel | Yr5+ | 24mins | The story of the discovery of the 7th planet in the Solar System from a garden in Bath, Somerset. Credit: Herschel Museum of Astronomy/Bath Astronomers (2022) |
| From Earth to the Universe | KS3+ | 32mins | A stunning voyage through space and time which conveys, through sparkling sights and sounds, the Universe as revealed to us by science. Credit: ESO (2016) |
| Losing the Dark | KS3+ | 7mins | A guide to the problem of light pollution and good lighting practices to help reduce its impact on the night sky. Credit: Loch Ness (2013) |
| Out There – The Quest for Extrasolar Worlds | KS3+ | 31mins | Shows how our perception of our place in the Universe has changed and how the discoveries of exoplanets we made in the last decades even surpassed the dreams of science fiction authors. Credit: ESO (2017) |
| Seeing! | KS3+ | 27mins | This show follows a photon’s creation and journey across the galaxy to a young stargazer’s eye. The viewer follows the photon into the girl’s eye, learning the structures of the eye and their functions, prior to taking a ride on the optic nerve. Credit: Zeiss (2017) |
| Sun Struck | KS3+ | 21mins | The show explores how the Sun came to support life on Earth, how it threatens life as we know it, and how its energy will one day fade away. Credit: MSC (2016) |
| Forward! to the Moon | KS4+ | 26mins | A journey through humanity’s space exploration, focusing on NASA’s Artemis program to return to the Moon, and highlighting a sustainable space future for all ages. Credit: Fiske Planetarium (2022) |
| Phantom of the Universe: The Hunt for Dark Matter | KS4+ | 28mins | From the journey of protons racing through the world’s largest particle collider in Europe to up-close views of the Big Bang and emergent cosmos, Phantom of the Universe takes you on the search for dark matter. Credit: ESO (2017) |
| The Hot Energetic Universe | KS4+ | 30mins | This show delves into the natural phenomena related to high energy astrophysics, a key field of research in astronomy. Credit: ESO, AHEAD (2016) |
| Unveiling the Invisible Universe | KS4+ | 29mins | For thousands of years humans observed the light coming from the night sky with their eyes. But then the revolution of telescopes and optical light, and the 20th century gave us views from above our atmosphere and in non-optical wavelengths, particles and gravitational waves. Credit: AHEAD 2000 (2021) |