Get your geek on at Hartnell College’s shiny new planetarium.

The old J. Frederic Ching planetarium was a Friday science staple in Salinas when it would screen animated astronomy shorts for children, then another program for older kids after that, projected onto the inside dome ceiling.

As part of the school’s gleaming new science-centric STEM Center Building, they built a new planetarium which opened in January. And, says Coordinator Andrew Lindsey, a 29-year-old former Navy nuclear submarine mechanic with a degree in chemistry and an affinity for the physics of space travel, it’s better.

The previous dome was 30 feet in diameter, had 45 seats, and the picture was sometimes faint. The new one is 40 feet in diameter with 80 seats, an upgraded projection system, better sound and lighting, and the picture delivers about 50-percent more resolution. “A vast improvement,” Lindsey says.

He still does the Friday kids double-header – with titles like The Little Star That Could for little ones at 5:15pm ($4), and stuff like The Dark Matter Mystery for older ones at 6:45pm ($4-$5) – preceded by talks about exoplanets and the scientific process. But he’s added more.

In April the planetarium hosted Hartnell literary journal The Homestead Review’s annual poetry readings about celestial bodies and planets. There have been lectures by a visiting astrodynamicist and a celestial navigator. On Mondays at 6pm they’re playing Carl Sagan’s 1980s classic science documentary series Cosmos (donations accepted), with matinee reruns ($4) at 2pm Tuesdays.

The former planetarium used to host children’s field trips, and Lindsey has continued that longstanding tradition. He estimates he’s taught 4,000 children so far this year.

HARTNELL PLANETARIUM, 411 Central Ave., Salinas. Prices and showtimes vary; shows scheduled through Aug. 8. (No Friday show July 9.) 770-6161, hartnell.edu/planetarium.