The original School District of Waukesha Charles Horwitz Planetarium opened in January 1978 and named after Mr. Charles Z. Horwitz, a well-respected Science Teacher, Principal, and Science Director for the School District of Waukesha.

A new planetarium was built in 2005 to replace the original facility and is located in Waukesha County’s Retzer Nature Center. In the Spring of 2018, the planetarium was renamed. David A. DeRemer was director of the planetarium from 1978 to 2018. In 2005, Dave received the Lifetime Excellence in Education Award from the Waukesha Education Foundation and was instrumental in fundraising, planning, and building the new planetarium. To honor Dave’s commitment to the success of the planetarium and to recognize his dedication to the students and community of Waukesha, the “Friends of the Planetarium” and School Board of Waukesha voted to rename the planetarium the Horwitz-DeRemer Planetarium.

For years, the planetarium continues to play a major role in the School District of Waukesha's Earth and Space curriculum. Classroom materials and participatory activities provided by the planetarium help prepare students for their field trip. The planetarium program, which culminates the classroom lessons, provides a unique three-dimensional environment, which can demonstrate challenging and complex topics to a wide variety of learning styles.

The planetarium functions as a community resource as well. With emphasis on family programming, the planetarium presents programs for private groups, including scouts, church groups, science clubs, child care centers and others.

With seating capacity of 90 chairs, plus up to 10 spots for wheelchairs, purchasing tickets beforehand is highly recommended. Each year the planetarium presents more than 400 shows to an audience of over 18,000.

Horwitz-DeRemer Planetarium

About Our Planetarium

What is a Planetarium?

History of our Planetarium

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A Collaborative Community Resource- Retzer Nature Center

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