Come to the Planetarium Programs in Waukesha this fall and winter 2025 / 2026!

The Horwitz DeRemer Planetarium is located at the Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha.

All shows are held at the Horwitz-DeRemer Planetarium located inside the Retzer Environmental Learning Center. Private show reservations are available for community groups, private parties, corporate events, or scout groups. If seats are available you can purchase them up to the time of the show. For more information or to register a group, call 262-970-4139. 

Tickets are available at https://hdplanetarium.ticketleap.com. 

Planetarium Programs September Schedule:

• Wednesday 9/3 at 11:00am – Surviving in Space – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 9/10 at 11:00am – Our Place in Space – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 9/17 at 11:00am – A Teenagers Guide to the Galaxy – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 9/24 at 11:00am – Supermassive Black Holes: Uncovering the Invisible – $5.00/person

SATURDAY SHOWS

• 9/6, 9/13, and 9/27 at 11:00am – Dinosaurs: A Story of Survival – $5.00/person
• 9/6, 9/13, and 9/27 at 1:00pm – Einstein’s Gravity Playlist – $5.00/person

SPECIAL EVENT

• 9/20 from 9am-4pm (every 30min, last show begins at 3:30pm) – Retzer’s Apple Harvest Festival Featured Show: Beyond Our Senses: Bank Swallows – $5.00/person 

Planetarium Programs October Schedule:

• Wednesday 10/1 at 11:00am – Nine Planets & Counting- $5.00/person
• Wednesday 10/8 at 11:00am – One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 10/15 at 11:00am – Halloween: Celestial Origins – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 10/22 at 11:00am – Spooky Space – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 10/29 at 11:00am – Space Aliens: Looking for Life in the Universe – $5.00/person

SATURDAY SHOWS

• 10/4, 10/11, 10/18 and 10/25 at 11:00am – Spooky Space – $5.00/person
• 10/4, 10/11, 10/18 and 10/25 at 1:00pm -Halloween: Celestial Origins – $5.00/person

Planetarium Programs November Schedule:

• Wednesday 11/5 at 11:00am – Sky Wars: Battles of Discovery – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 11/12 at 11:00am -Little Draggy Adventure – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 11/19 at 11:00am – One Sky Project – $5.00/person
• Wednesday 11/26 at 11:00am – Season of Light – $5.00/person

SATURDAY SHOWS

• 11/1, 11/8, 11/15, 11/22 and 11/29 at 11:00am -Khrumka’s Adventures in the Winter Forest – $5.00/person
• 11/1, 11/8, 11/15, 11/22 and 11/29 at 1:00pm – Aurora: Lights of Wonder – $5.00/person

Planetarium Programs December Schedule:

• Wednesday 12/3 at 11:00am -Messengers of Time & Space- $5.00/person
• Wednesday 12/10 at 11:00am – George & Oatmeal Save Santa- $5.00/person
• Wednesday 12/17 at 11:00am – Let It Snow – $5.00/person
• Monday 12/22 at 11:00am – George & Oatmeal Save Santa – $5.00/person
• Monday 12/22 at 1:00pm – Season of Light – $5.00/person
• Tuesday 12/23 at 11:00am Santa’s Secret Star- $5.00/person
• Tuesday 12/23 at 1:00pm – Mystery of the Christmas Star – $5.00/person
• Friday 12/26 at 11:00am – Dinosaurs: A Story of Survival- $5.00/person
• Friday 12/26 at 1:00pm – The Artistic Universe – $5.00/person
• Monday 12/29 at 11:00am – Constellations: Connecting Earth to Sky – $5.00/person
• Monday 12/29 at 1:00pm – Aurora: Lights of Wonder – $5.00/person
• Tuesday 12/30 at 11:00am – Cosmic Questions: Answers & Mysteries – $5.00/person
• Tuesday 12/30 at 1:00pm – Dynamic Earth – $5.00/person

SATURDAY SHOWS

• 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 12/27 at 11:00am -Let It Snow – $5.00/person
• 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 12/27 at  1:00pm -Mystery of the Christmas Star – $5.00/person

Program details :

A Teenager’s Guide to the Galaxy (5th-8th grade)
Created and hosted by cosmically curious teenagers from Milwaukee schools, this unique cosmic experience takes you on a dynamic journey across the universe and through time.

Aurora: Lights of Wonder (6th grade +)
Experience the aurora borealis as if you were there! Thanks to the pioneering work of astrophotographer Kwon O Chul. & Lights of Wonder filmed on location in Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories, Canada, features high resolution, hemispherical video recorded in real-time with a special camera system that captures the subtle detail, colors, dynamism and beauty of the aurora. In addition, scientific explanations and beautiful artwork about the legend of the aurora are featured throughout the show.

Beyond Our Senses: Bank Swallows
Each spring, thousands of Bank Swallows Riparia riparia (also known as the Sand Martin) return to the bluffs of Lake Michigan, transforming it into a symphony of flight and survival. With senses beyond human perception, they build vast cliffside colonies, hunt insects on the wing, and raise the next generation in a race against time. Beyond Our Senses invites audiences to witness the world through their eyes, a world of hidden colors, slowed time, and aerial mastery, revealing the unseen forces of the world that guide their survival.

Constellations: Adventures Connecting Earth to Sky (6-13 yrs old)
This program will circle the globe and bring these rich and engaging sky legends to life. It will explore how constellations helped organize the sky and tell time. Audiences will depart the Earth—witnessing how constellations change when traveling through the galaxy. Visitors will also marvel at how we also create wild pictures from the Moon and distant nebulae. Discover all the inspiring imaginations in the constellations!

Cosmic Questions: Answers & Mysteries (6+ years)
Everyone has a cosmic question! We asked museum people and local celebrities to send us their space inquiries. Explore our answers and how we handled the big mysteries like aliens, black holes, and multiverse! Join us for a wild ride through the cosmos as we uncover the peculiar, the obvious, and the far-out.

Dinosaurs: A Story of Survival (5K +)
Like almost all children, Celeste is fascinated with dinosaurs. She is preparing a talk for her class about how they went extinct when Moon, a very wise and magical character, poses a tantalizing
question: what if I told you that there are still dinosaurs among us? Celeste will join Moon in a journey through time. An exciting adventure that will show them the Earth as it was in a very, very distant past. They will see the fascinating transformations that these animals underwent over millions of years, creating giant creatures, armored beasts and super predators, until the day that a cataclysmic impact event caused a mass extinction on Earth. But all is not lost. Celeste will discover the key to their survival.

About the Horwitz DeRemer Planetarium:

The Charles Horwitz Planetarium opened in May 2005.  The state-of-the-art, 90-seat, Digistar-6 planetarium is owned and operated by the School District of Waukesha. With the new, high-definition laser projection system, guests can fly through the rings of Saturn, land spacecraft on Mars and travel at light speed to stars and distant galaxies… all without leaving their seats!

In the Spring of 2018, the planetarium was renamed: Horwitz DeRemer Planetarium after David A. DeRemer, who was the director of the planetarium from 1978 to 2018.

The planetarium is not only an accurate day and night sky projection system, but the program serves as a district and community science resource center. School and community programs are designed to meet state and national astronomy standards, but these programs also present fundamental science concepts of weather, climate, chemistry, physics, and earth science.

The entrance to the planetarium, lobby area, and the theater are completely wheelchair accessible.
Expand your experience by enjoying the Retzer Nature Center facilities and grounds!

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