Hopkins Observatory Announces Summer Planetarium Schedule

For reservations (recommended) contact Michele Rech at (413) 597-2188 or email at [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., May 19, 2016—Williams College invites you to experience the wonders of our universe at the Milham Planetarium, located inside the Old Hopkins Observatory at Williams College.

The Department of Astronomy will host free shows for the public on the following Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 8 p.m.: June 28, 30; July 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 28; and August 2, 4, 9, and 11. Audiences will be treated to shows from the high-precision Zeiss Skymaster ZKP3/B opto-mechanical planetarium projector, installed in 2005. Shows will last approximately 50 minutes.

The Zeiss Skymaster is capable of demonstrating phenomena including: retrograde motions of the planets, phases of the moon, the varying temperatures/colors of stars, locations of neighboring galaxies, the mythological figures and zodiacal signs ascribed to constellations, the Southern Hemisphere’s sky, comets, artificial satellites, and much more.

Summer 2016 shows will be hosted by Williams College student Timothy Nagle-McNaughton ’18 and John Nuciforo of the Pittsfield School District. Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy Jay Pasachoff is Director of the Hopkins Observatory.

The Hopkins Observatory, built in 1836-38 by the first professor of astronomy at Williams College, Albert Hopkins, is the oldest extant observatory in the United States.

For reservations (recommended) contact Michele Rech at (413) 597-2188 or email at [email protected]. Others will be admitted as space permits. Large groups should call for special appointments.

The Hopkins Observatory is on a small hill on the south side of Main Street east of Spring Street in Williamstown and just east of Lawrence Hall Drive, on which planetarium patrons share parking with the Williams College Museum of Art. A campus map showing the Hopkins Observatory’s location can be found at www.williams.edu/map or at 829 Main Street, Williamstown, Mass., in http://google.com/maps.