244th meeting
Registration & Events
Yerkes Observatory Tour (SOLD OUT!)
Thursday, 13 June
1:30 pm - 7:00 pm CT
Cost: $80.00
Experience this reimagined and reawakened international landmark on our 1.5 hour tour which highlights the astronomy, architecture, restoration, and human stories of the cosmic castle in the arboretum. You will see the largest refracting telescope in the world, some of the glass plate pictures of space that put Yerkes on the galaxy's map, Gerard Kuiper's lunar hemisphere he built with his student Carl Sagan, and the $14 million of restoration that has gone into this Henry Ives Cobb architectural masterpiece. Once home to Nancy Grace Roman, William Morgan, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, and Edwin Hubble, Yerkes Observatory is a hallowed space of astrophysics set in the ecological splendor of the Olmsteds' landscape design.
We look forward to welcoming you and your guests to this iconic astrophysics institution! The Observatory is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Your ticket purchase helps fund our roster of programs plus helps preserve, restore, and protect this internationally important site in the history of science.
If you would like to make an additional donation, please click the donate button on the homepage.
Note: The tour requires climbing staircases and visiting small spaces thus is not wheelchair accessible; however, the central floor is wheelchair accessible and there is a lift from the ground level up to that central floor.
Schedule
1:30 pm: Depart the Monona Terrace Convention Center
3:00 pm: Arrive at the Yerkes Observatory
3:15 pm - 5:15 pm: Tour of the Observatory
5:30 pm: Depart
7:00 pm: Return to Monona Terrace Convention Center