Did you get a new telescope for the holidays, or do you have an old one you’re unsure how to use? Join the astronomy team at Yerkes Observatory on Friday, January 31 from 5pm to 7pm for an introduction to telescopes and observing. This event is perfect for beginners and families!

This event is sold out.

S Carey is playing in our Hagenah Rotunda on February 14th! The multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and drummer for Grammy-winning band Bon Iver is coming to Williams Bay for a concert as part of his Living Room Tour. This tour has seen them play actual living rooms in people’s homes, breweries, and peculiar spaces you wouldn’t otherwise think of a concert with musicians of this magnitude.

This event is sold out, but a waitlist is available.

Join us at Yerkes Observatory on March 1 from 6pm - 8pm to hear from Dr. Sahar Alameh, Assistant Professor of STEM Education at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Alameh's research focuses on the construction and evaluation of meaningful scientific explanations within K-12 science classrooms and the investigation into the teaching and learning of Nature of Science (NOS). She will share strategies for teaching science through phenomena-based approaches and storylines and address socially relevant contexts. From 7pm - 8pm, we'll have light refreshments and a chance to connect with Dr. Alameh and other STEM educators in attendance.

Experience this reimagined and reawakened international landmark! This 1.5 hour tour involves astronomy, architecture, restoration, and human stories of the cosmic castle in the arboretum. It requires climbing staircases and visiting small spaces thus is not wheelchair accessible.

$43 for adults. Ages 10-18 are $21. Kids 9 and under are $5. This is our classic tour of the new and old Yerkes. We visit the famous Great Refractor telescope in its 280,000 lb. dome. We make stops in the meticulously restored Hagenah Rotunda and Ann M. Drake Family Library. We go into the attic library and see 125 years worth of books plus astronomy equipment through the ages. We take a close look at Henry Ives Cobb's architecture plus explore the dungeon, the crossing, and the Kuiper Sphere exhibit. Lots of breathtaking astrophotography and restoration to see. Lots of fun to be had. This is not a stuffy science tour though we certainly enjoy that, but you can know zero about astronomy and still totally love this tour.

For the adventurous who don't mind climbing winding staircases, ducking pipes, and exploring small spaces where astronomers work, this behind-the-scenes tour is your ticket! This is not for kids under 15 or for anyone concerned with physical demands. Not wheelchair accessible. 1hr 45mins.

$79 for adults. Kids ages 14-18 are $49. Friday mornings only. This is the only tour where you get to see the world's largest indoor elevator in action, go into the astronomy plate vaults, enter a reflector telescope dome,  walk through the semi-subterranean machine shop and darkrooms, and visit more peculiar paces. This tour typically happens only once per week on Friday mornings.

With only 12 tickets available, this exclusive 2-hour experience illuminates the inner-workings of Yerkes after dark. Curated by our Telescope Team, each night features cosmos viewing with the largest refracting telescope in the world if skies are clear.

The tickets for these specialized evenings are $140. We cannot guarantee clear skies on the night you schedule, but in the event that the weather does not permit observing with our telescopes (or there are technical issues with the historic equipment), we guarantee a special, exclusive experience where you will explore the night sky from a historical perspective on our indoor evening tour. If the weather conditions are not suitable for opening the telescope, we’ll delve into the secret vaults with 180,000 glass pictures of space, explore the evolution of astrophotography through over a century of equipment, and visit darkrooms in our subterranean chambers. Our trek takes us to the Great Refractor Dome, the 24” reflector telescope tower, and the heliostat observatory in the attic. Regardless of atmospheric conditions, this is a two-hour immersion inside the observatory that changed the way we see the Universe.

Important Info: After you purchase a ticket, please review your confirmation email for more important information about the tour. The info will be BELOW your tickets in the email. By 2:00 pm on the day of the event, please look for a new email from our Telescope Team updating the plan based on the forecast for the evening and condition of our equipment. Be sure to check your spam folder if you do not see this email in your inbox by 2pm.

This is a night event, thus it's an experience best enjoyed by ages 13 and up. Because of the historic construction of the building and domes, there are several flights of stairs (standard, steep, and tight spirals) that will be climbed and descended during both the clear and cloudy night programs. This experience is not wheelchair accessible.

Our Exploring the Night Sky tours are incredibly popular experiences that sell out quickly. If there are no dates available when you attempt to purchase tickets, this is because all of our dates are sold out. If you are interested in being notified when our next round of tickets becomes available, please reach out to info@yerkesobservatory.org.