John C. Wells Planetarium Reservations for School/Community Groups

Thank you for your interest in visiting the John C. Wells Planetarium, a state-of-the-art, hybrid facility located on campus at James Madison University. Please allow 5--7 business days for us to respond to this form to confirm your reservation. Submitting this form does not guarantee a reservation for the selected day and time.

Please make sure to view our reservation calendar linked below to make sure that the Planetarium is available for your chosen date/time. NOTE that we are not able to take reservations between May 12th, 2023 and August 31st, 2023.

Given our capacity of 72 guests, we encourage groups larger than 72 to book two appointments on separate dates. The Planetarium does not host any programs that can occupy students while their classmates attend a show, and teachers/group leaders are responsible for the activities of their group should they decide to split into two groups and attend back-to-back shows.

ADMISSION CHARGE: The John C. Wells Planetarium now charges $60 per reservation for any school (public/private/home-school) or community group that visits us. Payment must be submitted prior to your scheduled visit. To submit payment online, please click on “Reservations/Schools” in the gold navigation menu on the left side of our website and then click on “Submit Payment for Reservation”. If you wish to pay by check send it in the mail.

A $50 fee will be assessed for any check returned by the bank.

Please note: The John C. Wells planetarium strives to bring cutting-edge science to JMU as well as to the larger Shenandoah Valley community. Hence, the planetarium staff presents established science that is based on consensus from the scientific community. We will present the scientific evidence on topics such as climate change, evolution, age of the Earth, the Big Bang, and the age of the Universe.  All of our full dome shows, activities, and live star talks make reference to and begin with the premise that the age of the Universe is 13.8 billion years old, and that our Sun and the Solar System formed ~5 billions years ago. Our staff will not alter their presentations when discussing what some may consider controversial science topics.
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On what day and at what time would you like to visit the John C. Wells Planetarium? Our typical hours of operation are between 9:00am and 5:00pm, Mon-Fri. Other times may be available by request. (Please only select times on the hour, e.g. 10am rather than 9:45 or 10:15.) *
Please check the planetarium calendar (link below) to avoid conflicts: http://www.jmu.edu/planetarium/calendar.shtml
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Is this reservation for *
If you are a school/home school group, please tell us the name of your school/home school. *
What is the grade level of your students? *
If this is not a school/home school group, what is the name of your organization? *
What is the age range of the people in your group? *
How many people will be in your group? *
The planetarium can seat 72 people. Groups larger than 72 will require multiple reservations, each charged the $60 reservation fee. 
A typical reservation is for one hour where we present a full-dome video followed by a live, seasonal discussion of the night sky as seen here in the Valley. Choose your reservation type below. For Pre-School/Kindergarten groups, we recommend a 30minute Full Dome Video Only presentation. *
Is there a particular full dome video you would like to see?
See our list of available shows for descriptions: http://www.jmu.edu/planetarium/available-shows.shtml
What are the educational goals of your visit? *
If this is a public school group visit, what SOLs would you like covered? If a private/homeschool group, is there a specific concept or discussion you would like us to lead?
How will your group be arriving at the planetarium? *
Please see http://www.jmu.edu/planetarium/parking-bus.shtml about bus/car parking & how to obtain JMU parking permits for private cars in your group.
Will you need parking permits for chaperones or if you will be arriving in private vehicles? *
Please provide the name of the person we should contact about this reservation request. *
Please provide a contact e-mail address. *
Please provide a contact telephone number. *
A copy of your responses will be emailed to the address you provided.
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