Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium

Looking for something different to do on a Friday or Saturday night and it won’t break the bank? Then head to Butler’s campus and attend a public tour of the Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium.
For just $ 3 for adults or $ 2 for kids, you will get kid friendly slideshow in the planetarium and weather permitting, an opportunity to look into their improved/​upgraded 38″ telescope.
The planetarium portion of the evening provides a basic introduction to the planets as well as additional information as to what you might see that night. A student, think TA, provides the narrative. The planetarium is a throw back to the 1950’s, wooden benches included.
For the second portion of the evening, depending on the size of the crowd, you will be broken up into groups of 2 to take turns in the Observatory. For the group not viewing the observatory, you will wait in the lobby area while you are shown and provided additional detail about the murals on the floor and walls and what their meanings are. Don’t forget to look up though to view the gorgeous lighting fixture.
For the Observatory portion, you are provided additional information while the telescope is moved into position. You will get a chance to view through the lens more than once to view different objects. It is important to note, that while you are technically inside, the roof does open, so on chilly nights, I would bring a warmer sweater or jacket.
Overall, this is a great experience and something different to do.
Tips:
# Bring cash, as they only accept it as a form of payment for admission
#Check out their website to view their ClearSky Clock to help you determine if it will be too cloudy to see anything through the telescope on the night you wish to visit.
#While they have wheelchair access to the planetarium and lobby area, they don’t have an elevator to the telescope viewing area

My daughter and I have been wanting to visit a planetarium for some time and the Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium has been on our radar. We checked the website and had a listing of «open to the public» tours and star gazing on most Fridays and Saturdays in the spring thru fall so we thought this would be a fun activity to do together.
The observatory is located on the far northern end of the Butler campus. Sunset Rd. is (currently) a complete mess and I ended up at the south end of campus; I finally got back to the north side and found some parking (Clowes Memorial Hall was having some event so parking was at a premium).
The building looks like it was meant to be there; it’s completely seamless and beautifully situated at the top of a large hill. It very well may be the highest point at Butler. An abundance of green space in front of the building and a well landscaped walk up to the observatory add to the appearance.
Doors opened at 8PM — we were greeted by two students (who ended up being the presenters) and we paid a whopping $ 5 ($ 4 adult/​$ 1 student) and told the presentation would be given at 830PM downstairs in the plantarium. We were invited to look around in the interim — so we did that for a bit then found our seats in the round downstairs.
You can tell the building was built in 1954 — it sort of reminded me of a cross between the original dark rides at Disneyland in CA and my first elementary school in Ohio. The walls are old, the bathrooms are old, and it has an academia old school feel to it. The perfect blend of serious science and nostalgia IMO.
The planetarium was running a slide show on its roof to pass the time before the show started. Various slides talking about constellations, planets, etc. were the order of the day along with «trivia» type things. We were one of the first ones there and by the time the show started there were around 25 – 30 people. I would estimate the planetarium would easily seat 100+. Compared to other planetariums — I would say this is slightly smaller than I’ve been to.
The show started and was given by the aforementioned students — they were both exceptionally bright and knowledgeable on the topic de jour (in this case, Jupiter). Better than half of the presentation was slides until they brought the lights down and brought the stars into focus and talked about constellations (this was by far my favorite part and I wish it was longer). Putting the sky into motion would have been really cool — I did not ask if this was possible with their setup but have seen it done at other ones.
After the presentation they described the main telescope in detail — it is the largest telescope in the state of Indiana! Unfortunately, it is currently under renovation. The original build of 1954 was (obviously) not inline with 21^st century standards and from philanthropic gifts was being updated with computer controls, etc. They did take small groups up the winding stairway on the outer portion of the building up to the observatory to see it (don’t look down!). It is MASSIVE and I really wish we could have looked thru it. They are scheduled for testing thru May with hopefully allowing people to see thru in June. One of the students remained in the lobby area and gave some very interesting history about the building and its unique features.
After the observatory viewing they did set up a small telescope outside for viewing Jupiter. We were able to see the dust rings of Jupiter (yes) along with three of its moons. It was a beautiful evening outside and perfect for stargazing.
I really can’t say enough about the two young men running the presentation — we really had a lot of fun and all day yesterday my daughter talked about how much fun she had. It really was a good time and something that I will look forward to again in the future. Additionally I plan to send a complimentary note to the physics and astronomy department thanking them for putting this on for the general public.