The Daniel M. Soref Planetarium at the Milwaukee Public Museum will reopen on Thursday, July 22.
The planetarium has been closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Visitors to MPM can again experience programs at the planetarium hourly from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is included as part of the museum ticket.
“The stars have aligned and we are excited to be able to bring visitors and families back into the Planetarium in a safe and educational way,” said MPM Planetarium Director Bob Bonadurer in a statement Monday. “Looking up at the sky above and feeling the wonder and smallness those views create is a deeply human experience."
"People from cultures all around the world and throughout human history have stargazed – it connects us to each other, to the past and to the natural world around us. After so many months apart, that connection will be critically important.”
"Stargazers of Africa," an original program made in-house by Bonadurer and his team, will debut when the venue reopens.
The program takes viewers on an interstellar journey as seen from Africa.
Here is the schedule of programs through Aug. 1:
- 10:30 a.m. Stargazers of Africa
- 11:30 a.m. – Wisconsin Stargazing
- 12:30 p.m. – Stargazers of Africa
- 1:30 p.m. – Wisconsin Stargazing
- 2:30 p.m. – Stargazers of Africa
- 3:30 p.m. – Wisconsin Stargazing
- 4:30 p.m. – Stargazers of Africa
Reservations are still required for museum admission and can be made online at mpm.edu or by calling (414) 278-2728.
The museum also still requires safety measures like masks and social distancing.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
