St. Charles Parish Library Planetarium

10/11/2026

Heads Up! Did you see any meteors shooting across our northern sky the past couple of nights? It might have been a member of the Draconids that peaked the morning of the 9th. Next up, the Orionids peak around October 21st.

Up next is the Draconid meteor shower, they’ll be best s darkness falls on the evening of October 8 through the wee hours of the morning on October 9.

10/03/2026

Eight of y'all got the correct answer of 'B.' Learn more about the NuSTAR telescope at the link below, and visit the planetarium to learn about dark matter this month.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/brightest-cosmic-explosion-ever-detected-had-other-unique-features/

09/18/2026

Heads Up! Look to the western sky tonight at sunset. That bright dot, among the beautiful colors of the setting Sun, is Venus. The second planet from the Sun will be at its brightest tonight. Be sure to check out the Moon too.

Venus is blazing in the evening sky now. You’ll see it easily in the west after sunset. It lives up to its reputation of outshining all other objects in our sky, except the sun and moon. UFO reports are probably increasing! But you’ll know better. Venus recently passed between us and the sun. So...

09/02/2026

The results from our August trivia are counted. Only three of you wrote down the correct answer of "D. Phosphorus." Learn more by following the link below.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-cassini-data-reveals-building-block-for-life-in-enceladus-ocean/

08/29/2026

Our next great space telescope is set to launch tomorrow morning at about 6:30 a.m. NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will help unravel the mystery of our expanding universe, aid in the search for exoplanets, and more. If you are up early, watch the launch live.

Roman is set to launch August 30, 2026 at 07:26 am EDT on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

08/27/2026

Remember to look up tonight. If the sky is not too cloudy, you can spot a partial lunar eclipse. It starts about 8:30, but the Moon will be most shadowed by 11:12 p.m.

Start time, end time, animation, and detailed viewing information for the upcoming eclipse in Luling, Louisiana, USA

08/12/2026

We are missing out on the partial solar eclipse happening across the northern parts of North America. However, we will be able to see a partial lunar eclipse later this month, during the late night hours of Thursday, August 27.

Start time, end time, animation, and detailed viewing information for the upcoming eclipse in Luling, Louisiana, USA

08/08/2026

Heads Up! The Perseid meteor shower is peaking the morning of Thursday, August 13. If you don't have dark skies or just don't want to go out into the mosquitoes, you can join an online watch party. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is hosting an "Up All Night!" watch party starting the night of August 12 at 11 p.m. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVRkkrB4eS0

The Perseids are back! One of the year's brightest and most popular meteor showers has been ramping up since early July and will sparkle in the skies through

08/04/2026

At 1:35 a.m. tomorrow morning, the Moon will get a new crater. A discarded rocket will crash into it in the wee hours of Wednesday, August 5. We will not be able to see the impact without a large telescope, but there will surely be some great pictures of it later as the world watches.

A defunct part of a Falcon 9 rocket could slam into the moon at more than 5,000 miles per hour, according to scientists.

08/02/2026

It's trivia time again. Only two people got July's question correct. Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanic body in our solar system.

Learn more here:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-juno-to-get-close-look-at-jupiters-volcanic-moon-io-on-dec-30/