Come to the Planetarium Programs in Waukesha this winter and spring 2023!

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 February Schedule:

• Wednesday 2/1 A Place Like No Other $4.00 per person
  • • Alaska is a place like no other. For many people a trip to Alaska is a life-long dream. For the people who
      live there, they depend on and protect an enduring way of life. But there are places in the state so remote,
      so wild, that few Alaskans have ever gone.
      Here in the planetarium, we’ll take you to these places, to remote wilderness to see iconic animals and
      landscapes that define the Last Frontier, places that make Alaska… Alaska.
• Wednesday 2/8 Cosmix $4.00 per person
  • • Have you ever wondered how the astronauts do their job?  After watching “Cosmix”, it will be absolutely
      clear to you! But hold tight, it will be a crazy ride.
      You will find out what a space flight looks like and how to prepare for it. You will jump from a spinning
      centrifuge straight into a cosmic rocket. And where will it take you? Why, to the International Space Station!
      But don’t worry, we won’t bore you with technical details. On the contrary, practice is all that matters! You
      will learn to sleep in space, to cook cosmic foods, to use a cosmic toilet.  And, just to be sure, how to wash
      yourselves properly.
      Lastly, you'll have one last grand finale!  And by that, we mean a nerve-wracking return back to Earth in a
      red-hot spaceship cabin! Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
• Wednesday 2/15 Voyage to Distant Worlds $4.00 per person
  • • A tour of the objects in our solar system from the sun out to the Kuiper belt.  This show includes the latest
      info from various observatories and robotic space probes.
• Wednesday 2/22 Stargazers of Africa $4.00 per person
  • • From the dawn of time, Africans look to the skies above for inspiration and guidance. Join us for a journey
      across this great continent to the stars above.

FEBRUARY SATURDAY SHOWS

2/4, 2/11, 2/18, 2/25 11:00am Nine Planets & Counting $5.00 per person

2/4, 2/11, 2/18, 2/25 1:00pm Rising Star $5.00 per person

Planetarium Programs March Schedule:

• Wednesday 3/1 One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure $4.00 per person
  • • Explore the night sky with our friends from Sesame Street™.  Join Big Bird, Elmo, and Hu Hu Zhu as they
      take a trip to the Moon.  See how the Moon is different from the Earth and learn how to find the Big Dipper
      and North Star from your backyard.
• Wednesday 3/8 Two Small Pieces of Glass $4.00 per person
  • • This program celebrates 400 years since Galileo first pointed his telescope at the sky.  Don’t miss this
      fascinating look at the incredible contributions to astronomy made by Galileo and the world’s greatest
      telescopes.
• Wednesday 3/15 A Teenager’s Guide to the Galaxy $4.00 per person
  • • 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. Science Topics Include:
      Black Holes, Cosmology–Origins & Fate of the Universe, Star Cycles, Sun, Earth Origins & History, Water
      Origins & Chemistry.
• Wednesday 3/22 Exoplanets $4.00 per person
  • • A Casper Planetarium Full Dome Production about planets outside of our solar system and the methods
      used to find them.
• Monday 3/27 Rusty Rocket’s Last Blast $4.00 per person
  • • After decades of teaching the basics of rocket physics, Rusty Rocket has decided this will be his last blast,
      and he already has plans for how he will spend his free time.  There is one final mission to command: an
      introductory tour of the solar system for a new class of rocket rookies focusing on the wide variety of
      planetary environments.  Along the way, we learn Rusty is related to every famous spacecraft to explore
      the solar system.  He also emphasizes the immense distances between the planets and using cats and jets
      for comparison.
• Tuesday 3/28 The First Stargazers $4.00 per person
  • • This show investigates the mysterious alignments of the pyramids.  Travel with us to Stonehenge and other
      giant astronomical sites to see the incredible structures, made by the first stargazers.
• Wednesday 3/29 On the Blue Planet $4.00 per person
  • • The Earth is just one of the planets orbiting the Sun, but the only one where conditions are just right to
      support life. Explore the remarkable variety of life on Earth. How long has the Earth existed and what are
      the conditions that make it suitable for sustaining life? Why do penguins live in Antarctica and lions in
      Africa? Why do cedars grow in the tundra and vines in the jungle? This trip around the blue planet will help
      to answer these, and many more questions, about our unique and wonderful home.
• Thursday 3/30 Little Draggy Adventure $4.00 per person
  • • Do you know where the earth lives? What surrounds it? How far is it from the Earth to the Sun, and what
      makes our planet different from the others? Take a wonderful journey with a cheerful dragon Woody, who
      travels around the Universe in search of fantastic adventures. This time the dragon arrives on Earth where
      he meets a smart girl named Lena. Together Woody and Lena will introduce the children to the most
      interesting things about our planet and tell them about the wonders of the Solar System like bright
      nebulaes, galaxies, stars clusters, and wonderful comets.
• Friday 3/31 Sky Wars: Battles of Discovery $4.00 per person
  • • Explore epic battles of change in the sky above us.  Follow the struggles, as new discoveries alter our view
      of Earth and its place in the universe.  Witness the connections, and conflicts, between astronomy and
      astrology.  And lastly, voyage into the galaxy to glimpse how future discoveries might start new battles
      about the sky above!

MARCH SATURDAY SHOWS

3/4, 3/11, 3/18, 3/25 11:00am Flight Adventures $5.00 per person

3/4, 3/11, 3/18, 3/25 1:00pm Forward! To the Moon $5.00 per person

Planetarium Programs April Schedule:

• Wednesday 4/5 A-Z Astronomy: From 3 to 103! $4.00 per person
  • • Explore the depths of space in a wild ride through the universe!
      Appealing to all ages, this family romp through the galaxies includes a roller coaster ride on our huge
      dome, a strange stop at a black hole by Mr. Shakespeare, a talking letter with a jelly-bean universe, and a
      trip to Egypt to explore hieroglyphs- the origins of our letters.
      Don’t miss any of our out-of-this-world ABC adventures!  From the aurora to the zodiac, the alphabet
      voyage will leave you spinning for more.
• Wednesday 4/12 Space Quiz $4.00 per person
  • • “Space Quiz” is a series of interactive and educational children’s films for digital planetariums.  This film
      shows the relationship between the three best known astronomical bodies- the Earth, Moon, and Sun, the
      solar system, and the phases of the Moon.  Which planet has the highest crater?  Why is the Moon
      sometimes lit?  What makes the Sun shine?  Which of the planets rolls on its side as it orbits the sun?
      These are just some of the questions that will be answered in this space quiz.  Everyone leaves a winner
      because even if you didn’t know all the right answers, you will have learned something!
• Wednesday 4/19 Dynamic Earth $4.00 per person
  • • “Space Quiz” is a series of interactive and educational children’s films for digital planetariums.  This film
      shows the relationship between the three best known astronomical bodies- the Earth, Moon, and Sun, the
      solar system, and the phases of the Moon.  Which planet has the highest crater?  Why is the Moon
      sometimes lit?  What makes the Sun shine?  Which of the planets rolls on its side as it orbits the sun?
      These are just some of the questions that will be answered in this space quiz.  Everyone leaves a winner
      because even if you didn’t know all the right answers, you will have learned something!
• Wednesday 4/26 Galileo: The Power of the Telescope $4.00 per person
  • • Two eyes and two pieces of glass revolutionized human understanding 400 years ago.  The eyes belonged
      to Galileo Galilei, and the curved pieces of glass were the lenses of his telescope.This show tells Galileo’s
      personal and powerful story and explores how his discoveries displaced long-held views about the
      universe.  The film takes you back in time to Pisa, Italy to experience Galileo’s early experiments with
      gravity and the laws of motion, his advocacy of the idea that the Earth revolves around the sun, and his
      work with early telescopes.  You see how his keen observations culminated in The Starry Messenger, an
      early masterpiece in which Galileo described all his dazzling discoveries in a straightforward, easy to
      understand way.

APRIL SATURDAY SHOWS

4/1, 4/8, 4/15, 4/29 11:00am Max Goes to the Moon $5.00 per person

4/1, 4/8, 4/15, 4/29 1:00pm Dynamic Earth $5.00 per person

4/22 11am, 11:45am, 12:30pm, 1:15pm Retzer Nature Center Earth Week Celebration Presentation: A Place Like No Other  FREE ADMISSION

Find additional programs here.

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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