Status Open Town or city Indianapolis, IN Height 15 m Phone +1 317-940-8333 | Type Observatory Completed October, 1954 Opened October 1954 Cost 325,000 USD Groundbreaking 1953 | |
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Country United States of America Address 4600 Sunset Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46208, USA Similar Butler Bowl, Oldfields, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Broad Ripple Park, Holliday Park | ||
Butler university drone flyover holcomb observatory and planetarium gopro dji phantom
Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium is a part of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. A small observatory was built on the Butler campus on the east side of Indianapolis. The campus moved to the north side of Indianapolis in 1928 and the old observatory was torn down.
The telescope was reconditioned in the 1930s and remounted on the new campus, but sat unused until 1945.
In 1953, benefactor James Irving Holcomb and his wife gave $325,000 for the construction of an observatory. In October 1954, a 38-inch (970 mm) reflecting telescope was installed by J. W. Fecker, Inc. The observatory was built on a hill on the north end of the Butler University campus.
Planetarium equipment includes a Spitz A3P projector installed in 1981.
The telescope was refurbished over 7 years beginning in 1995 by AB Engineering of Fort Wayne, Indiana at a cost of approximately $100,000.