Michael and Kimthanh Lê Planetarium

Michael and Kimthanh Lê Planetarium ODU's Michael and Kimthanh Lê Planetarium offers school field trips to all grades, public planetarium shows, and much more.

The 48-foot dome of the Michael and Kimthanh Lê Planetarium is the 2nd largest in the Virginia Commonwealth. Foremost, it will serve as a planetarium, a spotlight of community outreach for ODU. It will be used as a lecture hall where it includes Digistar 7 for astronomy courses, is capable of projecting 3-dimensional proteins & molecules, and includes NASA's Science on a Sphere modules. It will op

erate as a symposium auditorium capable of live streaming presentations to and from remote locations all displayed on the dome in 4K resolution. It will be a truly remarkable facility for our students and the community. Immerse yourself in a journey through space and time in our breathtaking 121-seat planetarium. From the comfort of a plush, reclined seat you'll feel like you're flying through Earth's atmosphere to the far reaches of the universe.

The Nancy Grace Roman telescope arrived in Florida yesterday for preparation for launch. Named after NASA’s first chief ...
06/22/2026

The Nancy Grace Roman telescope arrived in Florida yesterday for preparation for launch. Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, the ‘mother of the Hubble Space Telescope,’ the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's, potentially measuring light from a billion galaxies in its lifetime.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived June 21, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the start of final prelaunch preparations before liftoff later this summer.

Coming to our show tonight? Be aware our parking is a little different for the summer due to repairs in the nearby garag...
06/17/2026

Coming to our show tonight? Be aware our parking is a little different for the summer due to repairs in the nearby garage. Please use the Bluestone Garage (Faculty/Staff) across the street and not the usual, Elkhorn (Commuter) side. Parking is metered at $2 an hour and is paid online. Please see the signage in the garage for more information.

See you under the dome!

06/16/2026

Join us Wednesday, June 17 and 24 for a tour of the summer sky. Stars, planets, constellations, and more. Get ready for the summer nights by viewing any upcoming celestial events on the planetarium dome.

7:00-8:15 pm
$5 per person, tickets available at the door starting at 6:30

Today in history: June 15, 763 BCE: Assyrians record a solar eclipse
06/15/2026

Today in history: June 15, 763 BCE: Assyrians record a solar eclipse

Today in the history of astronomy, an eclipse record helps illuminate the timeline of the ancient world.

The ISS is the third brightest object in the night sky after the Sun and the Moon. For all thoes night owls or early ris...
06/12/2026

The ISS is the third brightest object in the night sky after the Sun and the Moon. For all thoes night owls or early risers, we have a great opportunity to see it tomorrow morning (June 20) at 4:35 am. It will rise over the horizon to the southeast and move towards the northwest getting almost directly overhead.

(Image credit: Caught Light Photography Limited / Alamy Stock Photo)

06/09/2026

Extreme gravity and time dilation. Learn more about black holes at the Lê Planetarium.

Wednesday, June 10
$5 per person
6:30 doors open, tickets available
7:00 showtime

Tune in tomorrow, June 9, at 11 a.m. EDT to meet the astronauts flying aboard Artemis III, the mission that will test re...
06/08/2026

Tune in tomorrow, June 9, at 11 a.m. EDT to meet the astronauts flying aboard Artemis III, the mission that will test rendezvous and docking capabilities with commercial landers in low Earth orbit. Commercial landers are needed to bring astronauts to the lunar surface during future Artemis missions.

Tune in on Tuesday, June 9, at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) to meet the a...

Looking for a sweet escape under the stars? ✨ Check out our June calendar for upcoming shows and events🤩!! Which show ar...
06/04/2026

Looking for a sweet escape under the stars? ✨ Check out our June calendar for upcoming shows and events🤩!!

Which show are you most excited/interested in seeing this month👀??

Old Dominion University ODU College of Sciences

This Wednesday, June 3, our topic of the evening is "light". Part astronomy, part anatomy lesson, the full-dome movie "S...
06/01/2026

This Wednesday, June 3, our topic of the evening is "light". Part astronomy, part anatomy lesson, the full-dome movie "Seeing! A Photon's Journey" follows a photon as it leaves a star, travels the cosmos, and enters the human eye. (Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.)

Also includes a science demo show all about light!

June 3
$5 per person
6:30 doors open, tickets available
7:00-8:15 showtime

The hunt for dark matter is a long and mysterious road. Is it some unknown subatomic particle? Is it our incomplete expl...
05/27/2026

The hunt for dark matter is a long and mysterious road. Is it some unknown subatomic particle? Is it our incomplete explanation of gravity?

https://vimeo.com/941064443?fl=pl&fe=sh

Find out more tonight at the Lê Planetarium.

$5 per person
6:30 doors open, tickets available
7:00-8:15 showtime

– Trailer

Address

4501 Elkhorn Avenue
Norfolk, VA
23529

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