Clear Sky Clock: Blue = clear, White=cloudy (Click for more information)

Nov. 3, 7pm: Bob Crelin talk, "Faces of the Moon"

Dec. 4, 7pm: Movie night in the Planetarium, "The Core"

Dec. 15, 6pm: "Celebrate the Solstice"
 

Welcome to the Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium, located on the campus of Yale University in Farnam Gardens. The Leitner Observatory is a facility of the Yale Department of Astronomy dedicated to education, public outreach, and student research. The observatory was dedicated in May 2005, and the planetarium opened to the public in January 2009. The facility was made possible through the generous support of James Leitner ('75) and Sandra Leitner. We are open to the public every Tuesday night-- see our public calendar for details about upcoming events.

Our new digital planetarium theater uses a Spitz SciDomeHD system to simulate the Universe at any time from any place or to play back high-definition videos. We use the planetarium to teach astronomy concepts in our undergraduate classes, to present programs for school groups in the New Haven area, to support astronomy programs at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and to present planetarium shows to the general public. The projector can be used for more than just astronomy, however, and we hope to broaden the content of our programs in the near future.

The observatory has two permanently mounted telescopes. The historic 8-inch Reed refractor, mounted in the east dome, was purchased by Yale in 1882 to study the transit of Venus across the face of the sun that occured that year. The telescope was refurbished in 2004, and it is now used for visual observations of planets and stars. A computer-controlled, 0.4 meter reflecting telescope is mounted in the west dome. This telescope can be controled remotely from a warm room inside the main building or from anywhere over the internet. Between the two domes there is an observing deck with four permanent piers for mounting small telescopes. On the roof of the building we have a 3 meter radio telescope which is optimized for observing radiation from hydrogen gas in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Inside the main building, we have a lecture hall with space for about 70 people where public lectures and some astronomy department classes and meetings are held. There are displays here about the history of astronomy research at Yale, and we have several historic instruments on loan from the Peabody Museum, including the 5-inch Dolland refractor, an historic instrument used by Yale astronomers Stiles and Loomis to spy the return of Halley's Comet in 1835.

The observatory and planetarium may be available in the future to rent for private events... contact us if you would like to find out about such opportunities. Also, we some times are looking for volunteers to assist with education and outreach programs-- let us know if you would like to help out.