Astronomy

The Faulkner Planetarium

Opened in November 1995, the Faulkner Planetarium is the largest planetarium theater in Idaho, seating 144 under a 50' dome.  An upgrade to a state-of-the-art Digistar 7 fulldome projection system with 10,200 W Dolby 5.1 surround sound made the Faulkner Idaho's most advanced planetarium theater.

More about the Faulkner Planetarium

The Centennial Observatory

Features one of the world's largest fully wheelchair-accessible public telescopes.  The main instrument—the Norman Herrett telescope—is a 24" Ritchey-Chretien reflector on a computer-controlled fork mount, manufactured by DFM Engineering of Longmont, Colorado, USA.  The ARE-125, an optical "periscope" designed by DFM, allows unprecedented access to the telescope for wheelchair bound and limited mobility vistors. An Apogee Alta E47+ CCD camera is available for imaging, a generous gift of Dick and Jody Shotwell.

More about the Centennial Observatory

The Olive & Miles Browning Gallery

Currently on Exhibit:

• "ViewSpace" - NASA's continuously-updated high-def video program with the latest images of the universe, news on ongoing missions, and more.