UCLA Planetarium

After hearing so many good things about the UCLA planetarium, my bf and I decided to stop by for one of their Wednesday night shows.
Location: The planetarium is located at the very top of the Math and Sciences building, which is easy for UCLA students to find, but probably very confusing for visitors. Plan ahead if you’re not familiar with the area.
We arrived at 7:50, and since school was out of session, we presumed that it would be empty. However, when we arrived, there was a note on the door that said the 8pm showing was already at capacity and that if we were willing to stick around, they would do a second show. Since they had started early and we assumed it to be a 30 – 40 minute show, we decided to wait. At around 8:05, the rooftop where we were waiting was starting to fill up with families and students, much to our surprise. At 8:15, it was packed. We kept checking out watches hoping that the first show would get out soon, but they did not until 8:55, meaning we waited for roughly one hour.
Once the doors opened, it was every person for themselves trying to smush into the little seating area. We reached capacity again quickly, but the PH D student running it let some people sit on the floor.
Show: Part 1 took about 20 – 25 minutes and was just basically a PowerPoint about galaxies and black holes. It seemed more oriented toward younger kids rather than college students. Part 2 was the actual planetarium show, but rather than seeing the real night sky, we were actually just viewing slides through the old telescope projector… Not what we expected and fairly underwhelming to be honest. He did point out famous constellations and stars, though, and change out the slides to show different parts of the world and different times.
All in all, a bit disappointing. It would have been more fun without the hour long wait, but considering we were standing in line to enter for so long, we wouldn’t go back.

The most intimate planetarium I’ve ever seen.
The free shows are actually put on by graduate students, and their staff is so nice! I’ve worked with them a few times for UCLA’s social media content, and they were just so wonderful.
Support this place by visiting and donating. They’re frickin’ incredible.

They have shows here every Wednesday night. It’s a little tricky to find if you don’t have a map of the campus. The planetarium is in the math building on the 8^th floor. There are makeshift signs on paper drawing arrows to the planetarium. The actual show is very informal and cool. A grad student narrates and shows the stars in the galaxy. I was by myself and it felt a little weird because it seems like everyone else was astronomy students or couples that thought it would be romantic. The girl who was running the presentation seemed very nice and friendly and really liked her craft. It kinda reminded me of the guys from the Big Bang Theory who thought science was cool. After the show they allowed people to go upstairs and look through a telescope. All in all I liked the experience however I was already at UCLA doing some research. I probably wouldn’t have gone there just for the show but it’s perfect if you are already in the neighborhood.

Loved the show and live commentary, but music before the show was kinda disturbing. I would almost rather prefer planetarium shows previews, if those even exist.

Very trippy at least your first time. Chances are you will get an overeager Astronomy graduate guiding you and they know tons of stuff. Recommend for first years at UCLA

Just go, that’s my advice to you.
I came here for an astronomy lab and it looked wholly unimpressive from the outside. Once inside, however, I realized how wrong I was. There are free shows on Wednesday evenings put on by UCLA free to the public and students. I highly recommend going at least once, it’s an unreal experience and strangely peaceful. The facts they give out are also interesting and they alternate themes every week.
It’s the best view of the stars you’ll get and it’s located conveniently on campus.

just go — this place rocks
it’s free, its awesome, you’ll learn something and the vibe there is great (people of all backgrounds)
its not nerdy or tecchie as some friends who didn’t want to come with us had feared — they missed out!
our friend who arrived fashionably late also missed out — you HAVE to get there by showtime, so be prompt and walk the surrounding grounds too, it’s really a nice evening

#32 in
You know you’re a science geek when someone says «brown dwarf» and you assume they’re talking about astronomy and not a politically incorrect joke. Yep, nerd that I am, I went to UCLA’s planetarium show tonight to get schooled on brown dwarves. –What? UCLA has a planetarium?!– Yes and it’s free on Wednesday evenings. But don’t come expecting a Griffith sized planetarium; this thing only holds 50 people.
The show is free and it’s an hour long, with the first half being a lecture/​slide show and the second half being a look at the constellations and stars on the giant dome screen. Come EARLY because they close the doors right at 8 pm, and the place is packed with beginning Astronomy students getting extra credit. They also don’t let you in after they close the doors, so the banging won’t help, people. You snooze you lose.
The lecture had the potential to be dry as hell, but what made the evening so entertaining was our speaker, who was a UCLA grad student in Astronomy. He kept everyone laughing throughout the hour show. with this subject matter, that’s hard to do!
The best part is that after the show you can go to the top floor of the Math and Sciences building and look through their giant telescope. Tonight it was focused on the craters of the moon, and the view was just out of this world.

This is awesome and FREE!!! They have a grad student give a short presentation talking about cool galaxy stuff (sounds nerdy but its amazing) and they turn off the lights and you see stars WOW so pretty. Don’t be late– like they say, they really won’t let you in after 8 even if you bang on the door reallyyy hard.

it’s old and i love the vintage feel to this little hidden gem at the top of the MS building. it’s small and cozy and perfect for the 20:1 audience to presenter ratio. i attended a presentation where the TA for an astrophysics class gave a hilarious presentation on the cosmos that had many current social commentary.
I miss the good olé days at UCLA.

So my cousin Pamela R. tells me, «Hey I have an idea, how about we get some culture into us and go to as (dramatic pause) PLANETARIUM» and I’m all like, «excuse me — did you see the word GEEK on my forehead» apparently, so because we ended up going and boy was it educational! The highlight of course was the stereotypical physics student who conducted the show about the milky way (our galaxy, not just a chocolate bar anymore folks!” I liked it, who doesn’t like to see the stars and learn a little bit more about how we are merely specs in this wide wide expanse of existence!!!

Who knew there was a planetarium at UCLA?! This has been on my to do list forever and last night I finally got a chance to experience the joy of seeing the stars in L. A and learning about the milky way! I dragged my cohorts Jennifer T & Jose N with me. I did enjoy it, learned a lot and the grad student who presented was entertaining. Jennifer liked it especially because she learned that our signs (Sagittarius & Scorpio) are close to the galactic center. Jose on the other hand said he is removing my title of social chair…
The shows are every Wednesday at 8 p. m