West Virginia Wesleyan College provides a wide range of educational and entertaining programs to area residents. Among that group of program offerings is the College’s planetarium, which features a series of shows, led by Dr. Tracey DeLaney, assistant professor of physics.
The 40-seat planetarium is located on the second floor of the Christopher Hall of Science and features a Digitarium Zeta digital projector that is capable of full-dome videos. The projector was purchased with a gift from the Naylor Family Trust via the Community Trust Foundation.
Each planetarium show begins at 8 p.m. and includes a tour of the evening sky with free sky charts. Telescope observing follows each show, weather permitting. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for students and senior citizens, and free for children under the age of 18 when accompanied by an adult.
In addition to the regular Saturday programming, Wesleyan offers free planetarium shows for school and educational groups. Corporate functions, civic groups, and other special showings can be arranged at a cost of $50. To schedule a private planetarium showing, contact Dr. DeLaney at delaney_t@wvwc.edu or 304-473-8330.
The planetarium schedule through December is as follows:
Saturday, September 10 Rosetta
Saturday, October 6 Earth’s Wild Ride
Saturday, October 20 Fractal Explorations
Saturday, November 3 The Cosmic Recipe
Saturday, November 17 The Incredible Sun
Saturday, December 1 Nutcracker Suite
Saturday, December 15 Season of Light
For additional details about each planetarium show, go to https://www.wvwc.edu/academics/schools-departments/school-of-science/department-of-physics-engineering/planetarium/.
The planetarium is part of Wesleyan’s physics department, which has over 80 majors. In addition to offering both a B.A. and B.S. Wesleyan also has 3-2 engineering agreements with the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia University. The programs at Virginia and Virginia Tech lead to master’s degrees while the WVU option leads to two bachelor’s degrees. Wesleyan physics majors also participate in a number of summer research projects through the schools NASA partnership.
