Gravitate Towards Stardome And End Summer On A Blast

Stardome is gearing up for an exciting few months in early 2025, featuring an out-of-this-world lineup of events that will engage both serious and recreational space enthusiasts. From the music show Cosmic Legacy: Tribute to Queen and the action-packed Mars Month with a full-scale Opportunity Rover reproduction to a weekend dedicated to LEGO® and a new dinosaur planetarium show narrated by Sam Neill, there's an interstellar adventure waiting for everyone at Stardome.

ON THE EARTH

Cosmic Legacy: Tribute to Queen
Following on from the hugely successful Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary shows Stardome celebrates Queen’s cosmic legacy in this full dome musical experience! Rock across the cosmos to hits including Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, and Love of My Life, set against a universe of hypnotic visuals. Presented in 5.1 surround sound audio, this is an immersive audio-visual experience not to be missed.

Starting Wednesday 12 February. Check website for session times. Pricing: $23.50 Adult, $20.50 Senior/Student, $12 Starlight Explorer member 

Food Trucks at Stardome
For the first time, Stardome is hosting food trucks, offering an evening of delicious food, live music, and stunning views of the observatory and Maungakiekie. In collaboration with the Food Truck Collective, the event will feature Cajun Mobile Kitchen, Delicious Dosa, Ma Va Pizza, and Cream Ice Cream, serving up a variety of tasty options. Visitors are encouraged to bring friends, whānau, and an appetite. There’s also the option of heading inside for the 25 minute ‘Tāmaki Night Sky’ planetarium session. 

Saturday 22 February
Free entry to Stardome from 4PM – explore the gallery space before settling in for kai on the back lawn with live music.
$5 ‘Tāmaki Night Sky’ planetarium sessions at 4PM, 5PM, 6PM, 7PM & 8PM. Bookings essential. 

MARS MONTH – All March at Stardome

Opportunity Rover Unveiling 

The full-scale Opportunity Rover reproduction is a one-of-a-kind model made right here in Aotearoa by the Auckland University's Centre for Automation and Robotic Engineering Sciences and will be on permanent display at Stardome. The rover was proudly funded by the people of the United States of America through the U.S. Embassy in New Zealand.

On display from Wednesday 12 March. Available for viewing during Stardome’s opening hours.

To celebrate this homecoming, Stardome will offer screenings of Good Night Oppy. Free with registration via the Stardome website (subject to availability) this is the incredible true story of how a 90-day mission became a 15-year journey! This documentary film follows the Opportunity Mars Rover and the remarkable bond forged between a robot and its humans, millions of miles away.

Good Night Oppy session times: 4, 16, 25 & 30 March, 8pm.

Mars: The Red Planet

Stardome’s all-new, live presenter-led planetarium show explores humanity's relationship with our neighbouring planet.

Mars has always held a presence in our mythology. From ancient beliefs of its powers to the emergence of Martians in popular culture to planetary rovers and terraforming, what will the future hold for humans and the red planet?

Starting 1 March. See website for session times. Pricing: $18 Adult, $15 Student/Senior, $60 Family Pass

Recommended ages 14+

Mars Month Movies

All the highly popular Stardome movies orbit around the subject of Mars every Wednesday in March. The lineup includes - The Martian – 5 March, 7.30pm, Total Recall – 12 March, 8.00pm, Mission to Mars – Weds 19 March, 8.00pm and Mars Attacks! - 26 March, 8.00pm

Pricing: $15 Adult, $12 Student/Senior, $7.50 Starlight Explorer Members

Blocks In Space Weekend

After a hugely popular event in 2024, the All Blocks LEGO® User Group returns with another epic display of space-themed brick creations! Expect spaceships, satellites, aliens, robots, rovers, and more.

Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 March, 9.30am - 5.00pm. Free with Stardome general admission and all planetarium shows.

New Dinosaur Shows

Launching in April, Stardome will premiere two brand-new dinosaur-themed planetarium shows!

T REX and Dinosaurs of Antarctica are two new full-length (40-minute) shows that were both filmed on location in Aotearoa to replicate prehistoric habitats. Our very own Sam Neill is the narrator of T REX. Both films are incredibly high spec and will look spectacular on the big screen. Check out the trailers here: T REX | Dinosaurs of Antarctica

Check the website for screening times and prices. Age recommendation: 5+. These films contain realistic dinosaur depicitions that may be scary for younger viewers.

IN THE SKY

Planetary Parade – visible until the end of Feb, this rare celestial phenomenon sees Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune aligning in an arc across the night sky.

Total Lunar Eclipse – A total lunar eclipse will be visible in Aotearoa New Zealand on 14 March 2025, as the moon rises in the early evening. North America will have the best views, being able to see the eclipse from start to finish. Here people will be able to see the Moon rise as a total eclipse at just before 7:40pm – about 50 minutes later this stage will finish, and viewers will begin to see the Earth’s shadow moving across the Moon’s surface as the eclipse becomes partial.

Viewers should note that, to see as much of the eclipse as possible, they should try to get a clear view of the eastern horizon. This means avoiding anything that could obscure their view, such as trees, buildings, hills or mountains. Other than that, no equipment is necessary to enjoy this fantastic sight, as it will be easily visible to the naked eye [NB – depending on the weather of course!].

Saturn’s Rings – In March, Saturn’s rings will ‘disappear’ for a few weeks due to them being edge-on from our perspective. This only happens every 15 years and is a rare chance to see the planet without its iconic rings. Unfortunately, most ring plane crossings occur while Saturn is very close to the Sun from our view point. This means that it will be almost impossible to view this phenomenon from Earth from telescopes as the planet will be washed out in the morning light of the Sun just before sunrise.

Equinox – The March equinox falls on 20 March in Aotearoa New Zealand, marking the start of autumn. Days will grow shorter, and nights longer in the southern hemisphere.

IN THE NEWS

March – SpaceX will attempt a historic first: launching a Dragon spacecraft on a crewed polar orbit mission. Commanded by Maltese entrepreneur Chun Wang, Fram2 will break new ground in human spaceflight.

Japan and the USA are due to land on the Moon in early March and April respectively. USA’s Blue Ghost is scheduled to land in early March, and Japan’s Hakuto-R mission in April.

The Stardome whānau—including astronomers, educators, and space enthusiasts—are available for interviews on space events, and the public programme.

© Scoop Media