The Hatter Planetarium

Gettysburg College





Programs

Schedule

Facilities

Staff

The Night Sky



Introduction

Welcome to the web pages of the Hatter Planetarium, serving the Gettysburg College campus and surrounding community since 1966 - and offering more all the time! The Hatter Planetarium is located in

New!

Visit Gettysburg Skies, the unofficial blog of the Hatter Planetarium. Planetarium news and notes, follow-up resources for show topics, and sky events with a local slant.
the north wing of the Physics Department's Masters Hall on campus, and was built in 1966 as the result of a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. George G. Hatter. This web site aims to keep things simple but still let you know what we offer, as well as how and when you can get yourself, your friends, or your class (etc.) here to experience it. Be sure to check The Night Sky section of the site to help apply what you learn in the planetarium to the real sky.



Programs

The Hatter Planetarium offers two main kinds of shows, public and private through the academic year (September to mid-May). Both are live talks by a presenter, and all our shows are absolutely free of charge. Public shows include our long-running The Sky this Month series, which shows you what to look for from your backyard in the upcoming month as well as explaining recent astronomical news. Obviously the shows change month to month, but we cover different material from year to year as well, so regularly attending them is a great way to pick up a wide base of astronomy knowledge.

Astronomy 101/102 Extra Credit!

At the course professor's discretion, we keep a sign in sheet on the table with the globes for 101/102 students attending shows. A modest amount of extra credit is given for attendance. (Ask the professor for details.) You cannot get credit for attending the same show twice, but Sky this Month shows from different months are not the same show. This is approved for Fall '09.
In addition, we offer a variety of shows on special topics. These have included shows on important astronomical topics such as the search for extraterrestrial life and the classification of Pluto, as well as shows tied into Gettysburg College, such as “The Asteroid Patrol” and “The History of Astronomy at Gettysburg College.”

Throughout the school year we also present many private shows for school and community groups. Our core program, called “The Starry Night,” provides an introduction to the planetarium and celestial sphere concepts, a tour of the current night sky, and an overview of the universe beyond the solar system. There is usually time for Q & A at the end of the show. We often customize to meet a particular group's needs, so if there is a topic you want to us cover, please ask and we'll look into including it. With more lead time, we can sometimes prepare a show on a specific topic just for your group. Again, just ask. If it is not practical we'll let you know.

To request a show, e-mail Program Director Ian Clarke. Include the ages and size of your group and, if you know, any dates and times you are interested in. Please understand that setting up a show often requires that the part-time director/faculty member communicate with the part-time student workers several times about schedules that may change from week to week. Unlike a full-time science museum, we can't just put you into an open slot on our calendar. But bear with us and we will get back to you. Private shows are offered on an as-available basis, and some years we have had to turn people down in the second half of the spring semester, so contact us early if you can.



Schedule

Cancellation Policy for Public Shows

Check the Gettysburg College web site first. If the College is open, we will make all reasonable efforts to hold the shows as scheduled. In the unlikely event that we cannot hold the show for our own reasons (e.g., the presenter is ill and no substitute is available, equipment failure, etc.) an update will be posted to this site and to the Gettysburg Skies blog.



Facilities

The planetarium is located in Masters Hall on the Gettysburg College campus. It was installed in 1966 as the result of a generous gift of Mr. And Mrs. George G. Hatter. Mr. Hatter, class of 1911, was a member of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. It can seat up to 100 people in concentric bench seating. The Hatter Planetarium and Masters Hall are wheelchair accessible.

Directions

For information on getting to Gettysburg College, study the Visiting Gettysburg section of the College site. The planetarium is on the first floor of Masters Hall, room 115. Visitor parking is available in the Masters Lot off of Constitution Ave. Additional visitor parking is availble in the Stone Lot on the other side of Constitution (G/H-5 on the campus map below). The closest door to the planetarium is on the north-west side. As you walk from Masters Lot, bear left past the door facing you and turn right around the corner. The planetarium will be the first door on your left after you enter. NOTE: full-sized school buses will have difficulty making the turn at the end of Masters Lot and should not enter it. We suggest dropping students off near the entrance to Masters Lot and parking the bus in the Stone Lot.
Google Map
Campus Map

Spitz A3P

The heart of the facility is its original optical-mechanical Spitz A3P planetarium projector. It gives us the ability to model the sky and its motions on the 30-foot planetarium dome. It's capabilities have been augmented over the years with a variety of other projectors (slide, special effects, and video). Currently, we work most of our magic with the original star projector and two video projectors connected to a PC. A quality sound system rounds out the experience. We must disclose that our planetarium is years behind the state of the art. Nevertheless, the domed environment in any form is an unsurpassed tool for teaching all ages about the night sky. We believe that that tool, combined with our personal presentations and local slant, make the Hatter Planetarium an extremely valuable outreach program in the community.

If you are interested, you can read a 2006 student paper about the history of the Hatter Planetarium here. [Ed. Note: I wish I could revise my quote on page 15 about the planetarium needing to be upgraded or dying within five years. We have had a thorough maintenance visit since then and could go on years some longer, I believe, though the need for an upgrade remains.]



Contacting Us

The entire planetarium staff works on a part time basis, so an e-mail to Program Director Ian Clarke is the best way to reach us. You are reading this on the web, so that should be no problem. Someone interested in a show but without e-mail access should call Judy Jones in the Physics Dept. office at 717-337-6020. Of course, you can also talk to the presenter in person after a show. FYI, we do give the cell phone number of the scheduled presenter to group leaders in case of an emergency change of plans.
Staff

Thanks also to those who help us in the course of their Physics Department duties, including Academic Office Administrator Judy Jones and Electronics Technician Gary Hummer.

The Night Sky

In this section are links and other information that will help you learn more about astronomy. These only touch the surface, of course, but they are chosen with emphasis on helping you get out for some local stargazing.

Gettysburg Clear Sky Clock

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