2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Live Planetarium Shows
The Great North American Eclipse of April 2024 is fast approaching – and the Vanderbilt Museum’s Reichert Planetarium has created a new LIVE planetarium presentation: ECLIPSE! See how the event will look here on Long Island. Sunday, March 17, and Friday, April 5.
The Great North American Eclipse of April 2024 is fast approaching – and the Reichert Planetarium has created a new LIVE planetarium presentation: ECLIPSE! See how the event will look here on Long Island. Sunday, March 17, and Friday, April 5.
Eclipses are rare and exciting events. Ancient civilizations viewed them as supernatural warnings preceding cataclysmic events, caused by angry deities.
Today, we understand the true cause of eclipses – thanks to our understanding of the motions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun – allowing modern observers to enjoy them to the fullest. Using the technological capabilities of the planetarium theater, audiences will take a tour of the sky, emphasizing when, where, and why we see solar and lunar eclipses from planet Earth.
To prepare viewers for the Great North American Eclipse taking place on April 8, 2024, audiences will observe a simulated partial solar eclipse as it will appear from Long Island. We will also take a virtual trip to a location experiencing totality and discuss ways to safely view the Sun.
Recommended for ages 8+.
Details and Tickets
Storytime Under Stars: Good Books and Stargazing
The Vanderbilt’s next Storytime Under the Stars will be on Sunday, March 17, at 6:00 pm. A live narrator reads books as selected pictures are projected on the Planetarium dome.
Sponsored by Bank of America
Join us for a special evening of storytelling and stargazing in the Reichert Planetarium. All children are invited to wear their comfiest pajamas and bring their favorite stuffed animal.
A live narrator at the front of the theater will bring selected picture books to life, with pages projected onto the Planetarium dome so families can enjoy the illustrations and follow along. Between stories, an astronomy educator will explore seasonal constellations visible from here on Long Island.
Admission fee: $8 per person | $6 for members.
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New Digital Mapping Project Reveals Human Patterns That Shaped NYC
Gergely Baics and Rebecca Kobrin will give a lecture, Mapping Historical New York: A Digital Atlas, at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum on Thursday, March 28, at 7:00 pm in the Reichert Planetarium.
The project visualizes Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s transformations during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Drawing on 1850, 1880, and 1910 census data, the Digital Atlas shows how migration, residential, and occupational patterns shaped the city.
The Digital Atlas breaks new ground by locating each person counted in the Census at their home address, sometimes before the street grid was even established.
The creators used preserved historical maps and city directories, and even traced census takers’ steps, to locate residences. The Atlas is a living project that will expand to include all five boroughs up to the 1940 census.
Baics is Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies and Helman Faculty Chair of Urban Studies at Barnard College. Kobrin is Russell and Bettina Knapp Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University.
The creators invite visitors to use the website’s interactive features to map and visualize the residential geographies of New Yorkers and Brooklynites. Many histories of New York may be found in the maps. The Digital Atlas includes a few case studies to show how selected data may be visualized to tell a story – and visitors are invited to create their own. Those interested in more in-depth research and alternate methods of visualizing data may access the digital layers and underlying data of the assembled maps.
Baics and Kobrin are co-principal investigators for the project, the result of a multi-year interdisciplinary collaboration between Columbia University’s Department of History and the Center for Spatial Research at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
Funding for the project is provided by the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation.
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‘Under the Sea & Poetry’ With Linda Trott Dickman
Join Linda Trott Dickman for Under the Sea & Poetry – a multigenerational workshop on Saturday, April 6, from 10:00 to 12:00 am in the Vanderbilt Museum’s Hall of Fishes – and create a poem inspired by the magnificent ocean life in the collection.
Dickman, who has lived most of her life in East Northport, is an award-winning poet whose work has been anthologized locally and internationally. She is the author of four chapbooks and a poetry prompt book for children of all ages.
The coordinator of poetry for the Northport Arts Coalition, she also works with poets of all ages at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association and at local museums and leads a poetry workshop at Samantha’s Li’l Bit O’ Heaven coffee house. Dickman is a retired elementary school librarian.
Tickets: $10
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‘Arrizza Under the Stars’: Live in the Planetarium
Local artist and musician Yannaki Arrizza will perform Arrizza Under the Stars in a new, live, exclusive performance on Sunday, April 21, in the Planetarium. His brilliant soundscapes are accompanied by stunning laser lights and immersive imagery
Arrizza Under the Stars is a new, exclusive planetarium live performance by local artist and musician Yannaki Arrizza, based on his recent 2022 album release Astronomia. The music includes brilliant electronic soundscapes that combine digital and analog synthesizer sounds along with modern textures provided by the latest digital audio technologies.
Astronomia is reminiscent of the soundtrack for the popular Netflix original Stranger Things, combined with deeper experimentations in electronic and ambient realms similar to the popular synth sounds of the 1970s and early 1980s often heard in science-fiction films of the time. The words thought-provoking, hopeful, mysterious, and moody come to mind.
Yannaki’s music is a perfect complement (or maybe it’s the other way around!) to the spacey visual landscapes the planetarium is capable of providing with its cutting-edge fulldome video technology. Audiences can expect to be transported into immersive worlds and interstellar mediums that transcend both space and time and where the only limit is the imagination. This live performance includes artistic landscapes, original fulldome 3D artwork, projections of starfields, and deep-space objects, and includes colorful laser lights through a haze of fog.
This one-time performance is exclusive and can be seen only at the Reichert Planetarium!
CDs and merchandise will be available for purchase.
Reichert Planetarium Director Dave Bush, says “We are thrilled to be working with Yannaki. He is such a motivated and talented musician. His new album, Astronomia, is a perfect match for the planetarium. It has been so much fun creating and combining the images and lasers to go along with such an incredible piece of musical work. I have personally become a fan! The audience is in for an amazing experience.”
Yannaki Arrizza was born and raised in a diverse multi-ethnic background where art and music were abundant in his life. Yannaki is a self-taught Latin/New Age/World guitarist and multi-instrumental artist based in the Long Island, N.Y. area. He learned his craft during his formative years as a growing musician. His first love was the guitar, and grew out of listening to a variety of Latin American, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern music. He later built upon a repertoire of Spanish guitar combined with the sounds of New Age and Electronic music.
Eventually, Yannaki began to dabble with keyboards and synthesizers. With influences ranging from Yanni, Jean Michel Jarre, Kitaro, and Tangerine Dream, he created a unique combination of Spanish guitar and electronic instrumentations that would dominate his future releases. His synth-oriented music is described as chill Electronica with New Age instrumentation and sensibility combined with the otherworldly sounds and textures of science fiction.
“The Astronomia album was born out of my deep heartfelt love of space, a dedication to the sheer grandeur and beauty of the sacred cosmos. I am so excited to perform at the Reichert Planetarium, my wish is to share the experience with you all.. The combination of my spacey otherworldly selections and the cutting-edge fulldome video technology the planetarium provides will create an exclusive one-of-a-kind spectacle. It will dazzle the senses and create an excitement and wonder that will bring joy to one’s heart.” -Yannaki Arrizza
SOLD OUT — ‘Wildman’ Steve Brill: Foraging at the Vanderbilt
Environmental educator and author “Wildman” Steve Brill, who leads wild food and ecology tours, will offer Foraging with the ‘Wildman’ on the estate grounds of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum on Sunday, April 7, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. A 60-minute indoor presentation will precede a two-hour tour, followed by a book signing.
“With cultivated areas, fields, thickets, and woods, and the Northport Bay shore, the grounds of the Vanderbilt Museum is a bonanza for wild foods in early spring, and everything the group will be finding is renewable,” Brill said.
“Wild greens will be thriving in sunny areas and along trail edges. We’ll be looking for chickweed, which tastes like corn silk, lemony sheep sorrel, garlicky garlic mustard, spicy hairy bittercress, and pungent field garlic.”
Brill said there may also be lots of daylily shoots, which taste like a combination of string beans and onions. Roots will be in season and will look for wild carrots in the sandy hillsides near the water.
$10 | $9 members | children under 12 free
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Brill’s books include Foraging in New York (Globe Pequot Press, 2017), on the state’s best edible plants; Foraging with Kids (Brill is author, artist and publisher, 2014), a wild foods guide with science, folklore, history, recipes, games, and activities, for teachers, parents, and grandparents to use with kids; The Wild Vegan Cookbook: A Guide to Preparing Wild (and Not-So-Wild) Foods (Harvard Common Press, 2002).
Also: Shoots and Greens of Early Spring (Brill is author, artist and publisher, 2008), and Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places (Harper-Collins 1994), plus the iOS/Android app Foraging with the Wildman.
Earth Day Workshops at Whaling Museum and Vanderbilt
Join the Whaling Museum of Cold Spring Harbor and the Vanderbilt Museum for Environmental Explorations (Grades 1-5), Earth Day workshops on April 22 and 23. Included: scavenger hunts, hands-on activities, and crafts.
The Whaling Museum & Education Center
Cleaning up the Earth has never been so much fun! Explore the dangers of plastic pollution to ocean life through hands-on games, activities, and crafts. Learn what you can do to help keep our oceans clean and create an ocean origami scene using recycled materials.
Vanderbilt Museum
Learn how we can be stewards of our amazing planet. Visit the collections and learn about the diversity of Earth’s wildlife, touch corals and shells, and create a portrait of your favorite animal.
Register
Biologist-Educator Plans Vanderbilt Bird Walk
Eric Powers, a biologist and environmental educator with the Center for Environmental Education and Discovery (CEED) will lead a bird walk on the Vanderbilt estate’s scenic hiking trail on Saturday, May 25, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.
This is an advanced hiking trail with many steep climbs and descents along a variety of mixed terrain with an elevation gain of nearly 300 feet. There will be two opportunities to cut your hike short and head back to the parking lot if you feel you or your party cannot finish the entire loop. The signs will show you the way out.
Ticks are active in the woods all year long when temperatures are above freezing. To avoid ticks, please stay on the trail.
Hikers assume all risks.
Register
Journey Through Space? Step Right This Way.
The Reichert Planetarium – with full-dome video, surround-sound, and 197 comfortable new seats – will take you on enthralling, immersive journeys through the Solar System.
On Friday and Saturday nights, you can enjoy two amazing astronomy shows and very popular laser music shows.
The Planetarium offers great daytime programming for children and adults Friday through Sunday
On Friday at 8:00 pm, it’s FREE to observe the night sky in the Observatory (weather permitting).
Show ScheduleName a New Chair in the Reichert Planetarium
When you name a new chair in the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium chair, you support innovative planetarium education and entertainment programming.
Observe a milestone, honor a loved one, or name a chair for your family or organization.
Dedicate | Celebrate | Recognize | Memorialize
Your nameplate will remain in place for the life of the seat. (It does not reserve the use of the seat.)
More Details
Summer Science Fun: Register Children Early
Children can learn a lot and have lots of fun, too, in Vanderbilt Museum Summer Science Workshops during July and August. Sessions for grades K-3 and 3-5. Early registration is recommended for these popular programs.
July 15-19 or August 12-16 | 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
$200 non-members | $180 members
Interested in a membership? Learn more here.
Space is limited and spots fill quickly! Advance registration is required.
Junior Explorer Workshop – Grades K-3
Explore the world at the Vanderbilt Museum!
Join us for a week of creative science and history workshops. We’ll sail the seas, dive the deepest oceans, soar among the tallest trees, and make unique art inspired by nature and the collections.
Registration is open for children entering Kindergarten – 3rd grade.
Register for JULY Junior Explorers
Register for AUGUST Junior Explorers
Junior Astronomer Workshop – Grades 3-5
The Reichert Planetarium presents an exciting program for young astronomers! Junior Astronomers will learn about multiple astronomy topics including our solar system, how to use a telescope, and how to identify constellations they can see from their own backyard. This program focuses on hands-on learning with STEAM activities and crafts supplemented by immersive live and pre-recorded fulldome presentations in our Planetarium theater.
Registration is open for children entering 3rd – 5th grade.
Register for JULY Junior Astronomers
Register for AUGUST Junior Astronomers
The July and August sessions of each workshop will feature the same activities.
For this reason, we recommend against registering a child for the same workshop twice.
Give a Unique Gift That Will Last a Lifetime
Looking for a fresh, unique, everlasting gift for a loved one?
Purchase and engrave a brick that will become a permanent part of the Vanderbilt Museum.
Your donation will help the Vanderbilt to bring outstanding science, history, and art education to more than 25,000 students annually.
Your brick will be installed and displayed in your favorite brick walkway around the Vanderbilt Mansion and Terrace, or on the 43-acre grounds of the beautiful waterfront Estate.
For more information, email jaimie@vanderbiltmuseum.org.
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‘Laser Taylor Swift’ Extended through June 16
Showings of the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium‘s wildly popular new show, Laser Taylor Swift, have been extended through June 16. If you were not able to see one of her shows on the Eras tour, Laser Taylor Swift is the next best thing!
With more than 200 million records sold, a shelf full of Grammys, and an army of fans, Taylor Swift is an inspiration for generations. This dynamic show takes her biggest hits and brings them to life in dazzling laser light.
Tickets: $18. (Free for Museum members.)
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Setlist: You Need To Calm Down, Love Story, Anti-Hero Exile, Look What You Made Me Do, Willow, Lavender Haze, I Knew You Were Trouble, Blank Space, You Belong With Me, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Shake It Off.
‘Haunting Menagerie’, Museum’s First Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition
Wendy Klemperer
On Earth Day, April 22, 2023, the Vanderbilt Museum debuted Wendy Klemperer: Wrought Taxonomies, the first exhibition of outdoor sculpture at the historic summer estate of William Kissam Vanderbilt II.
Wendy Klemperer’s sculptures—a haunting assemblage of animal forms that span imaginary, endangered, familiar, and exotic species—celebrate natural history and the nonhuman world through evocative interactions with the surrounding environment.
Using materials salvaged from scrapyards, she composes ecological narratives that respond to the history and collections of Suffolk County’s first public park and museum. Her brilliant use of gestural lines captures the spectator’s attention and invites museumgoers to reflect on the relationship between an interest in animal life and the incessant push of human industry.
Wrought Taxonomies is the inaugural exhibition in the Vanderbilt Museum’s outdoor sculpture program and the institution’s second exhibition of contemporary art focused on the relationship between culture and animals. Visitors will see large pieces visitors as they stroll the grounds of the Vanderbilt, one of the few remaining Long Island Gold Coast mansions. Smaller pieces suspended from trees wait to be discovered along the Vanderbilt’s hiking trail. Other works will be found near garden areas and the Marine Museum.
The Vanderbilt Museum occupies the former Gold Coast mansion and estate of William Kissam Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt and a pioneer of American motorsport. Located in Centerport on the north shore of Long Island, it is renowned for its extensive marine and natural history collections, Spanish revival architecture, and picturesque parklands.
All sculptures are viewable with general admission to the Museum grounds. Educational programs and workshops associated with the themes and content of Wendy Klemperer: Wrought Taxonomies will be offered throughout the exhibition. Special thanks are due to the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, whose generous support made Wrought Taxonomies possible. The exhibition will run through April 2025.
Visitors are encouraged, during these weeks of mild autumn weather, to enjoy a picnic on the grounds.
Vanderbilt Wine Supports Education, Preservation
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum has partnered with Old York Cellars to create a special selection of wines – your purchase will support the Museum’s preservation efforts and education programs.
Eagle’s Nest, the waterfront estate of William K. Vanderbilt II, is the home of the Vanderbilt Museum and Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium.
Help us preserve this vital piece of local and national history. STEM education programs are based on Vanderbilt’s marine, natural history, and cultural artifact collections. Educational planetarium offerings are provided to more than 25,000 schoolchildren each year. Please purchase wine today and support our mission.
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