Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium's Blog | Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium

Living with Beavers

Posted: January 17, 2022| Categories: Programs and Events, What's Happening

January 25 at 11:00 AM Open to the public via Zoom (in person for Homeschool Day participants) Beavers are often considered a nuisance species because they greatly impact their environment- cutting down trees, blocking streams, and flooding new land. But in most cases, there is another side to the story. Read More

Vermont’s Lady Beetles

Posted: January 13, 2022| Categories: Observing, What's Happening

The Fairbanks Museum has been working in collaboration with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies to digitize the museum’s lady beetle collections, adding to our knowledge of Vermont’s lady beetle populations. Lady beetles, also known as “ladybugs” are in the beetle family Coccinellidae, and 35 native species are found throughout the… Read More

Skywatch Astronomy

Posted: January 10, 2022| Categories: Skywatch Almanac Astronomy, StarGazing

The heart of winter brings the brightest stars in our skies into full view. Orion sits at the center of these stellar “super stars”, the line of his three belt stars extending to the right toward the red star Aldebaran, the “eye” of Taurus, the Bull, and to the left,… Read More

House Cleaning

Posted: January 2, 2022| Categories: Museum News, What's Happening

Our doors are closed until Jan 29. Please excuse us while we freshen up! While the doors are closed, we’re busier than ever updating our displays, cleaning the cases, and installing new geology and Snowflake Bentley exhibits! Innovative interactive displays in a new “Conte Corner” are coming this week! We… Read More

January Weather

Posted: January 1, 2022| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather

Although the winter is less than two weeks old on the calendar when the month starts, the weather has wasted little time in plunging thermometers well below zero, often to their lowest levels of the year. The weather pattern is dominated by frigid arctic air masses that hail from the… Read More

Night Owl Club

Posted: December 27, 2021| Categories: Planetarium News, Programs and Events, Space Science

Thursday, January 6, 7:00 PM Join us each month for a virtual conversation about astronomy and space! We’re eager to share what we know and respond to your questions about the latest explorations in space, once-in-a-lifetime astronomical occurrences, and advances in space technology. This interactive conversation offers astronomy experts and… Read More

Closed until Dec 27

Posted: December 25, 2021| Category: Fairbanks Museum

We’re taking some time to celebrate holidays and make a necessary repair. We’ll reopen on Monday, December 27 at 10:00 AM with a full schedule of planetarium shows. Wishing you all the warmth of the holiday season! -The Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium Staff… Read More

December Astronomy

Posted: November 29, 2021| Categories: Fairbanks Museum, Skywatch Almanac Astronomy, StarGazing

The longest nights of the year welcome the return of Orion, rising earlier each evening, and dominating the eastern sky, often identified by his line of three “belt” stars. Extending this line to the upper right leads to the red star Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the Bull, while looking… Read More

December Weather

Posted: November 29, 2021| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather

Although some winters have already started by the time December roles around, every so often a December arrives without its usual cold and snow. As each day passes, a rather noticeable anticipation builds. December’s reputation for snow and cold is well earned, and even though temperatures might tease us… Read More

Lunar Eclipse

Posted: November 18, 2021| Category: Space Science

Early in the morning on Friday, November 19th, Vermont, and most of North America, will experience a partial lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon moves into the Earth’s shadow. This means that the moon is exactly opposite the sun. The full “Beaver Moon” will move into the… Read More