Oswego State students will have a unique opportunity this December. The planetarium, located in Shineman 223, is showing “The Stars of Winter,” an astrology show based around the stars that are visible in December, January and February.

Planetarium director Scott Roby will be running the show.

“We start out by showing which stars you can see in December, like around midnight, and then you see the same stars in January around 10 p.m., and then you can see the same stars again in February around 8 p.m.,” Roby said.

He explained that the reason the stars move is because of the path the Earth takes around the sun.

The shows will be offered at 7 p.m. for the first three Sundays of December, which are Dec. 7, 11 and 18. The shows are free and the planetarium seats 35.

“The winter constellations are the biggest and brightest of the year,” Roby said.

As for the show itself, Roby said they will be concentrating on Orion. Other constellations that can be seen include the Gemini Twins, Canis Major, Canis Minor and Auriga.

“We’re telling these Greek mythologies and then tend to be tragedies,” Roby said. “I am doing this for a family audience on Sundays and so I try to make it more lighthearted.”

“The Stars of Winter” is not the only show that is offered in the planetarium.

“We do new shows every month,” said Professor John Zielinski, who runs some of the shows. “I gave one about the constellations that you can see from the southern hemisphere.”

Year-round, people can watch a 45-55-minute show on the stars.

“This year, my first show was about the autumn constellations,” said Zielinski.

Planetarium shows are offered nearly every Sunday from September to June at 7 p.m. and are open to the public.

The planetarium is also used for teaching classes.

“For the astronomy course, we can teach certain parts of the course here,” Zielinski said.

Other classes also make use of the planetarium, with biology, chemistry, geology, philosophy and history of science students all getting the opportunity to have their sections of study taught through the planetarium.

“The faculty that teach the class ask, and then I design the show,” Roby said.

The classes can all learn something from space, be it astrobiology, the origin of the elements, fusion, or the geological features of Earth and Mars, and even the constellations in literature.

“The show I just finished now was about astronomical subjects that are mentioned in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Julius Caesar,’ and Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ and Mark Twain’s ‘Connecticut Yankee’ and ‘King Arthur’s Court.’ We show film clips of all these and then simulated all these,” Zielinski said.

The planetarium also offers “The Stars of Spring” and “The Stars of Summer,” which are shown in the spring semester. The stars of the season series runs in September, December, March and June, with shows being offered at the same time as regular ones.

“This is one way of reaching out to the community and letting them know what is current in astronomy and science,” Roby said.