The UNK Observatory

Dr. Mena-Werth with the 14-inch Meade telescope in the UNK Observatory. The observatory is located at the top of Bruner Hall of Science. Students and visitors gather in the observatory to use the large telescopes to view the night sky. Smaller telescopes can be transported outdoors for a wider viewing range of celestial events. The University of Nebraska Foundation provided a generous grant in 2009 to enhance the UNK Observatory.

The Observatory gives both visitors and science majors the opportunity to explore the night sky with state of the art telescopes and electronics. The Observatory features a 14-inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain with GPS electronics, a 4k x 4k CCD camera, an 8-inch Celestron, a 7-inch Questar, a 3.5-inch Questar, five 10-inch Dobsonians, and fifteen 7x35 binoculars.In addition to equipment for introductory observations, we have research equipment both for Solar, stellar, and planetary astronomy. The Observatory is available to students and the general public.

Both the Planetarium and Observatory are used to teach our physics, astronomy, earth science, and teacher education courses. We also offer presentations for visiting public and school groups. There is NO ADMISSION FEE for the Planetarium or Observatory.