|
From Saturday 26 September to Sunday 11 October, Stardome’s school holiday programme will give tamariki plenty of ways to get curious about the universe, with immersive planetarium shows, daily rocket launches and hands-on activities in its brand-new learning space.
Rockets will launch daily at 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm (weather permitting), while drop-in craft and activities will run throughout the holidays. From 1–3 October, the Watercare Wonder Wai Discovery Truck will also be onsite, bringing an interactive exploration of Auckland’s water journey to Stardome.
Inside the planetarium, families can travel from prehistoric Antarctica to the far reaches of the solar system, with highlights including T.REX, Dinosaurs of Antarctica, 3-2-1 Liftoff! and The Navigators. Younger tamariki can explore space through Perfect Little Planet and The Accidental Astronauts, while Looking Up!offers a live tour of the night sky above Auckland.
For older kids and adults, Astronaut, We Are Aliens, Beyond the Solar Systemand Our Sky Tonight offer deeper journeys into space, while Ngā Whetū o Kōanga (The Stars of Spring) explores Māori astronomy and the maramataka.
Following two sold-out seasons, Strings under the Stars returns on 16-17 and 23-24 October, bringing together a quartet of Auckland Philharmonia musicians and Stardome’s immersive planetarium for a concert experience beneath the stars.
The programme explores music inspired by night, nature and the heavens, including Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Haydn’s Sunrise Quartet and With Amber Hands, a new work by Tāmaki Makaurau composer Camryn Nel written especially for the performance.
As the musicians perform beneath Stardome’s dome, specially created planetarium visuals will transform the space around them, bringing together the intimacy of chamber music with the scale of the cosmos.
On Sunday 25 October, Stardome will welcome Extra Lives for a one-off live performance at 3pm. Billed as the world’s first Audience RPG, Extra Lives is a narrated choose-your-own-adventure game where the audience becomes the main character, with lights, music, sound effects and visuals inspired by legendary console games of the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, alongside a live score performed by the band. The show debuted to a sold-out Hollywood audience in 2022 and has since toured internationally.
There’s just one chance to play, with the session limited to 50 people as Extra Lives makes its Stardome debut in the Space Room. It’s a live performance rather than a planetarium show, with tickets available exclusively through Stardome.
Then, on Saturday 31 October, Stardome puts a cosmic spin on Halloween with Spooky Space, a family-friendly, child-focused Halloween experience with sessions at 3.30pm, 4.15pm, 5pm and 5.45pm. Recommended for ages 6/7+, the 23-minute full-dome planetarium film matches familiar Halloween characters with their real cosmic counterparts: ghosts become ghostly nebulae, vampires meet black holes and zombie stars prove that space has monsters of their own. Watch the trailer HERE. Audiences are encouraged to dress up, with spot prizes for the most ghoulish costumes.
School holidays: 26 September–11 October
Strings under the Stars: 16–24 October
Extra Lives: Sunday 25 October, 3pm
Spooky Space: Saturday 31 October, 3.30pm, 4.15pm, 5pm and 5.45pm
www.stardome.org.nz/
