Beginning February 2025, all Astronomy Night tickets must be purchased in advance. You may purchase tickets for all Astronomy Night Shows at our page on PurplePass. For individual show tickets, please click the name of the show in the table below.
Mesa Community College invites the public to explore our amazing Universe in our state-of-the-art Planetarium located on the Southern & Dobson Campus!
MCC Astronomy Nights are held on the first Friday of the month during February, March, April, & May and September, October, November, & December.
MCC Astronomy Nights include planetarium shows and telescope viewing. Planetarium shows occur rain or shine, but telescope viewing of the night sky is only offered when the sky is clear.
Planetarium shows run from 5:00-10:00 PM, with shows starting every hour.
Update for August 2026
Over the summer, our long-time planetarium director, James Enos, moved to another institution. We are in the middle of filling James' role and his rather large shoes! At this time, we are preparing our list of shows for the Fall 2026 Astronomy Nights. We do not have details available at this time, but we hope to hold our regular First Friday events during September, October, November, and December.
Please check this page again soon for updates. We will post them here as they become available.
Other Information:
The line for seating forms approximately 15 minutes before show time. There is no late seating for planetarium shows. Please arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of show time.
During Astronomy Nights, we also offer telescope viewing of the Moon, planets, and other celestial sights. Unlike the planetarium shows, telescope viewing will only occur if the skies are clear.
The planetarium is wheelchair accessible.
Astronomy Nights are held at the MCC Planetarium on the south side of the Physical Science Building (PS 15). This building is just east of Dobson Road, on Planetarium Way north of the Dobson Road-US 60 interchange and one light south of Southern Avenue. Please see the map for our location on MCC's Southern & Dobson campus.
The Planetarium is labeled with "PLANETARIUM" in large black letters which are visible from Dobson Road and Planetarium Way.
Free parking is available in the lots south of the Physical Science Building.