Explore the moon and more during Moonlight at the Moody

A portable planetarium and telescopes offering views of the lunar surface will occupy the lawn outside the Moody Center for the Arts Oct. 5 for “Moonlight at the Moody,” highlighting the moon-inspired artwork within.

Works by Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and more are featured in this semester’s “Moon Shot” exhibition at the Moody Center. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow)

The evening will celebrate “Moon Shot,” this semester’s exhibition of artworks by a selection of innovative artists working from 1969 to the present, and underscore the space-related work and research that continues to take place throughout the Rice community.

In addition to food trucks, music and a cash bar, the Moody Center will also feature expert talks by Joseph Campana, the Alan Dugald McKillop Professor of English and director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences; John A. McCullough, director of the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate at the NASA Johnson Space Center; and John Gruener, a NASA space scientist in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division.

If these talks raise more questions for you than answers, head to the “Ask an Astronomer Café” — a riff on the popular “Café Philosophe” at the Night of Philosophy and Ideas earlier this year. David Alexander, director of the Rice Space Institute, and professor of physics and astronomy Chris Johns-Krull will be on hand to talk Baily’s beads and black holes.

Two film screenings will take place, including the Georges Méliès classic “A Trip to the Moon.” The 117-year-old film is silent and will be accompanied by Shepherd School of Music musicians led by Anthony Brandt, chair of composition and theory.

Patricia Reiff, professor of physics and astronomy and the associate director of outreach programs for the Rice Space Institute, will have her Discovery Dome — a portable planetarium she developed, which was the first of its kind in the U.S. — outside on the lawn, where you can catch a glimpse of the heavens even if it’s a cloudy night.

Moonlight at the Moody, Oct. 5, 7-9 p.m., Moody Center for the Arts. Free and open to the public.