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WinterFest – Day 1

December 20 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

$24 Adults, $19 Children (2-12) and Seniors (65+)

Members get in FREE

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Pack your mission gear and prepare for liftoff! Your winter adventure begins at the Chabot Space Station, where frozen frontiers await! Step through the portal and prepare to journey across some of the coldest, most captivating worlds in the cosmos: the ocean-covered moon Europa, the dazzling ice plains of Pluto, and a mysterious icy exoplanet orbiting a distant star. 

 

Ongoing Experiences 

 

10AM – 5PM | NASA Ames Visitor Center 

NASA Ames will be popping up at Chabot!

 

10AM – 5PM | Rotunda 

Berkeley Public Library – Celebrate the most wonderful time of the year with Berkeley Public Library! Get a library card! Discover library programs and materials, make astral-themed buttons and paper crafts, and take home free BPL giveaways!  

 

10AM – 4PM | Mezzanine 

Boo Bubbles uses dry-ice fog to create ghostly bubbles that mimic the extreme cold and thin atmospheres of frozen moons like Europa and Enceladus, inviting visitors to imagine icy, hidden-ocean worlds. 

 

10AM – 4PM | Mezzanine 

Planetary Cyro Chemistry with the pH of Dry Ice Demo – The pH of Dry Ice demo turns sublimating CO₂ into a color-changing wonder, revealing how carbonic acid forms and transforming liquids into vibrant hues reminiscent of dynamic chemistry on icy worlds. 

 

10AM – 4PM | Studio 3 

Icy Orbs invites visitors to examine mysterious frozen spheres and imagine their origins, sparking creative stories about distant exoplanets where extreme cold, shifting surfaces, and unusual chemistry shape alien worlds. 

 

11AM – 2PM | Upper Rotunda 

Pacific Face Painting – Ready for some extra sparkle? Stop by our face-painting area and let Pacific Face Painters transform your favorite characters, creatures, and colors into wearable art for all ages. 

 

12-5PM | Observation Deck 

SMAX – A pop-up and test kitchen that focuses on creatively assembled sandwiches and treats served by Paris and Joog, two friends from San Francisco and Vallejo. 

 

 

Timed Activities

 

11:30 AM-12:15 PM | Touch the Sun 

Storytime & Author Meet & Greet: Galaxy Mapper  – Galaxy Mapper book read-aloud with local author Allie Summers; behind the scenes intro into making pictures books, and interactive cosmography and astrophysics craft activities. Great for kids ages 4-11 years, but all are welcome. 

 

10:30AM – 10:50AM,  11:30AM – 11:50AM, 1PM – 1:20PM, 2PM – 2:20PM | Theater

Icy Worlds Mission Briefing  – Join our educators in the theater for an orientation on icy worlds throughout the solar system and beyond. Take this knowledge along as you embark on the rest of Winter Fest to find icy experiments, winter crafts, and so much more! 

 

3:30PM-4PM | Theater 

Holiday Laser Show – Light up the night with our full dome laser show featuring holiday classics! 

 

12:30-1PM | Planetarium 

DC Dance Center’s Holiday Shine Showcase – Celebrate the season with dazzling performances by San Leandro’s DC Dance Center. Ballet, tap, and jazz come to life in this festive showcase full of charm, energy and winter magic. 

 

1:30 PM-2:15 PM | Planetarium 

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir – Join us for a heartwarming celebration of the season as the Oakland Youth Chorus, Miracles, and Middle School ensembles fill the air with festive melodies and timeless classics. With rich harmonies and a joyful spirit, this exceptional performance is sure to spark holiday cheer for audiences of all ages. Come share in the music and magic of the season. 

 

12–12:30PM, 1–1:30PM, 3-3:30PM | Portable Planetarium 

Solar System Adventures: Frozen Worlds – Join Josh Roberts from Astro Everywhere on a live tour of the icy worlds of our solar system. See moons, ice giants and minor planets up close and personal in the Portable Planetarium!  

Astro Everywhere brings the astronomy to YOU! From breaking astronomy headlines to telescopes or a planetarium at events, Astro Everywhere tries to connect Bay Area audiences with the night sky and the universe beyond it. 

 

11:30AM – 12:30PM, 2:30PM – 3:30PM | Lab 2 

Add-On Workshop: Gingerbread Rovers – Put your engineering skills (and your sweet tooth) to the test in our Edible Mars Rover Lab! Learn about the real rovers exploring Mars, then design and build your own gingerbread decorated version using graham crackers, frosting, and other delicious materials. It’s a fun, creative workshop that combines science, engineering, and holiday cheer all in one tasty mission. 

11:30AM 2:30PM

 

10:45AM – 11AM, 12:45PM – 1PM, 2:45PM – 3PM, 3:45PM – 4PM | Amphitheater 

Snow Fall – Head to the Amphitheater to catch some snowflakes as we transform Chabot into an icy winter wonderland! 

 

NEW Planetarium Show!

SPACETIME

Telescopes built to detect electromagnetic waves, like visible light, infrared, radio waves, and other forms, give us the ability to see objects and events at great distances in the universe, and far back in time. Today, a new type of instrument, the “gravity wave telescope”, is giving us the power to “hear” cosmic events beyond the sight of ordinary telescopes. Gravity waves are ripples in spacetime created by events like collisions between black holes, and powerful processes that took place in the earliest times of our universe.
The Dutch Black Hole Consortium is currently building an enormous underground gravity wave detector, called the Einstein Telescope. When completed, this instrument will provide unprecedented insight into the nature of the universe and its origin, allowing scientists to probe cosmic secrets that light waves cannot illuminate.

 

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