Planetaria in Wisconsin

Daytime or night, clear or cloudy, you can always get a star show in a Wisconsin planetarium. Many planetaria are attached to museums or have astronomy and space artifacts on display elsewhere in their facility. There are several planetaria in Wisconsin you can visit:

• Daniel M. Soref Planetarium in Milwaukee (Milwaukee Public Museum)

• Manfred Olson Planetarium in Milwaukee (UW-Milwaukee)

• Gary E. Sampson Planetarium in Wauwatosa (West High School)

• Charles M. Horwitz Planetarium in Waukesha (Retzer Nature Center)

• MMSD Planetarium in Madison (Madison Metropolitan School District)

• Barlow Planetarium in Menasha (UW-Fox Valley)

• Buckstaff Planetarium in Oshkosh (UW-Oshkosh)

• Allen F. Blocher Planetarium in Stevens Point (UW-Stevens Point)

• UW-La Crosse Planetarium in La Crosse (UW-La Crosse)

• L. E. Phillips Planetarium in Eau Claire (UW-Eau Claire)

• UW-River Falls Planetarium in River Falls (UW-River Falls)

You can also use the map below to find the one nearest you:
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What Is A Planetarium?

A planetarium is a place dedicated to modelling the universe where the appearance of the celestial sphere, the movements of the planets and the path of comets are reproduced.

For decades, planetariums essentially reproduced the appearance and movements of the sky visible to the naked eye using optomechanical simulators to show the appearance of the sky from any point on Earth.

In recent years, thanks to computer technology and video projection, planetariums have become rooms in which all or part of the universe can be modelled. The new high-resolution equipment, which is both versatile and high-performance, can show not only the appearance of the sky but also a large number of phenomena that are impossible to visualize using optomechanical systems.