The Pacific Planetarium Association (PPA) is a non-profit organization with members mostly from planetariums in the western states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington.
Our mission is to facilitate communication and cooperation among members of the planetarium community to help them provide the very best services to their respective communities in science literacy, arts & humanities awareness, and understanding of our universe.
Upcoming PPA events:
2023 Planetarians' Zoom Seminars (PZSs) are usually on the last Friday of the month. They are recorded and archived on the Seminar Archive page. For connection URL, see the Seminar Connection page. See Seminar Schedule page for full descriptions.
2023 Oct 27 - 11am PDT (18:00 UT). Pointerology. John Erickson will lead a discussion of different pointers. Participants can share their favorite pointers and their best techniques for pointer use. John will introduce and explain how to build a new pointer.
2023 Nov 17 - 11 am PST (19:00 UT) Teaching in Italy and the Lessons I Learned. Andy Kreyche was selected for "An Experience in Italy." As a result this past spring he was giving lessons in astronomy to high school students and leading teacher workshops in Italy. He'll share with us his experience.
2023 Dec 22 - 11am PDT (19:00UT) Building diverse collaborations, Jean Creighton (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Planetarium) will speak about how to make planetarium theaters more inclusive spaces, developing meaningful, long-lasting partnerships: (1) six Nations of Wisconsin; (2) African American community; and (3) Student Muslim Association & Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition
2024 Jan 26 - 11am PST (19:00 UT). Polar Sciences in a Live Planetarium Show. A.J. Balatico, a PhD candidate in Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Announcements:
Recordings posted on the Seminar Archive page:
Aug 25 - Professional Development for an Early Career Planetarian. Ellen Thompson
Oct 27 - Pointerology. John Erickson
Nov 17 - Teaching in Italy and the Lessons I Learned. Andy Kreyche
NASA Resource Page for Planetariums - updated 03/14/23
The Pointer, a PPA magazine published from 1968 t0 1970, will be appearing on this site's Publications page. The first six issues are available now.
IDEA Committee statement.
You can now make DONATIONS to PPA. See below.
Support the PPA!
You may support PPA projects, including the Mini Grant program, by contributing with credit card, debit card, or Paypal using this Donate button:
Alternatively, send a check made out to Pacific Planetarium Association to Alan Gould, PPA Treasurer, 1256 Spruce St, Berkeley CA 94709 .
To become a PPA member, see the PPA Membership page.
The Pacific Planetarium Association pay tribute to the lives and legacies of dear members who have passed on, but remain with us in memory: Don Warren (1999), Charles Hagar (2013), Lonny Baker (2015), Dale Etheridge (2019), Mike Bennett (2021), and Steve Craig (2021).
PPA is an affiliate of the International Planetarium Society. Recordings of recent IPS virtual conferences are on the IPS youtube channel.
PPA is also one of the associations in the Western Alliance Conference of Planetarium Associations (WAC—Western Alliance Conference).
PPA youtube channel: youtube.com/@ppadomes