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At the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, The Sky Tonight takes audiences on a live, immersive journey through the stars
From the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, The Sky Tonight offers a captivating, live journey through the current night sky. Guided in real time, the interactive show highlights visible planets and seasonal constellations. It turns the sky above into something immediate, understandable, and deeply engaging.
Our very own Artemis experience The Sky Tonight is a live, interactive one-hour planetarium experience that guides audiences through current nighttime sights.
“We travel through our night sky and we show the different constellations, planets, and objects that people can see,” says Digital Dome Supervisor, Constant Voloschenk.
The night sky is particularly exciting right now, with prominent planets, shifting seasonal constellations, and unique Moon phases making this the perfect time to explore and understand what’s visible above us.
“We are in the change of a season. We’ve got all our summer constellations setting, new constellations are starting to rise, and new objects are appearing in our night sky. It’s something that’s constantly changing. We just had Artemis that went around the moon,” says Voloschenk.
The Wits Anglo American Digital Dome allows for immersive digital shows and cutting-edge astronomical presentations.
“As the digital dome, it’s a space that can be shared by different people from different disciplines. Now we are no longer focusing on astronomy but different industries,” says Operations Supervisor, Bongiwe Ndulula.
Due to its strong educational focus, shows like The Sky Tonight attract many young people eager to learn more about our cosmos and better understand the wonders of the night sky.
“I learned a lot here about stars and constellations,” says an attendee.
“It felt so real. I felt like an astronomer going off into space,” says another.
“We are a scout group. We have activities in the bush, and we encourage our members to know how to use the sky to find their way. This show teaches them more about that,” adds another attendee.
The show ended with a special twist a marriage proposal where technology was woven into the moment, revealing a surprise message written across the sky. “It was love at first sight for him. He noticed me before I did. We started chatting, and it led to this,” says Nirali Patel. They say a star lives for a billion years. May their love shine just as long. –Reporting by Nondumiso Mkhize-Pooe
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