Augustana College’s John Deere Planetarium and Fryxell Geology Museum will open their doors to the public for their annual Fall Open House on Saturday, Nov. 1. The free event will run from 7-8:30 p.m. at 820 38th St., Rock Island, offering both indoor and outdoor programs.
Attendees can experience the wonders of the night sky with a planetarium show projected onto the facility’s 30-foot dome. Weather permitting, the Carl Gamble Observatory will provide views of astronomical objects, including the moon and the planet Saturn, through its telescopes. The Getz-Rogers Gallery also will be open, displaying images of celestial objects and a quarter-ton piece of the Canyon Diablo meteor.
The Fryxell Geology Museum, known for its extensive collection of minerals and fossils, will offer hands-on activities. Highlights include: a wall of glowing, fluorescent rocks; a cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull; and a complete 22-foot long skeleton of Cryolophosaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur discovered in Antarctica.
Guests planning to visit the unheated observing areas are advised to dress for the weather. In the event of cloudy skies, telescope views may not be possible, but all indoor programs will proceed.
