Planetarium

The planetarium is located beside the main lobby of the science building.

It is used for instruction in the astronomy courses, and also for public shows designed for the local community, especially school groups. The planetarium is run entirely by students, who write the shows and present them to the public. The Stephens observatory, located on the roof of Carnegie, houses a 12-inch Newtonian reflecting telescope, built by Roscoe G. Stephens of Kennebunk, Maine, and donated to the college in 1929. The instrument has excellent optical quality. The observatory dome is electrically driven, and the telescope itself has a new tracking system designed and built by a senior thesis student.

There are several portable telescopes available for student use, including an eight-inch Celestron with electric tracking, and a six-inch Meade starfinder. In addition, the astronomy lab provides eight three-inch reflecting scopes with accessory photometers.