By Charles Krebs

The Royden G. Derrick Planetarium at Brigham Young University , which enjoyed a major upgrade in 2010, will have Friday night shows hosted by the BYU Astronomical Society at 7 and 8 p.m. throughout the summer for $2 a person.

The planetarium is located at N465 of the Eyring Science Center on campus, and tickets are available at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. For more information and a complete schedule, visit planetarium.byu.edu.

As a service to the community, the planetarium staff has set aside times for outreach shows for school groups, scout groups, youth groups, etc. for a discounted rate of $1 per person. The schedule for these outreach shows is available at planetarium.byu.edu.

The planetarium features a specialized 3-D star projector and state-of-the-art acoustics. The projector in the room is so precise it allows lecturers to reproduce the positions of stars and planets as seen from any location on Earth at any epoch in time, explained J. Ward Moody, professor of physics and astronomy.

“We can demonstrate what the night sky would have looked like from the Holy Land on the night Christ was born,” he said.