Who owns griffith observatory

Since opening, the Observatory has welcomed over 76 million visitors. More people 7. The building operated continuously from until January 6, , when it closed for a comprehensive renovation and expansion.

Four goals guided all planning for the project: 1. Renovate all elements of the existing building; 2. Develop a state-of-the-art, immersive planetarium environment; 3. Expand public space to improve the visitor experience; and 4. Design and develop an inspiring new exhibit program. The renewed building reopened to the public on November 2, Those wishing to visit Griffith Observatory may drive up to the Observatory and park in the parking lot or on the adjacent roads.

No shuttles or advance reservations are required. There is a modest fee to see the programs in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium. Arts and Entertainment. By Oren Peleg. Published Dec 18, AM. LAist relies on your reader support, not paywalls. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.

Monthly Donation One-Time Donation. Griffith's own plans for the park, which came to include an astronomical observatory as well as a large outdoor amphitheater, were held up by scandal. In , Griffith shot his wife in an alcohol-fueled rage. He was convicted of attempted murder and spent two years in San Quentin. The Greek Theatre finally opened in , and the Griffith Observatory in The gift may have been evidence of Griffith's charitable spirit, but Griffith Park almost certainly owes its existence to the fact that the mountainous land would not be developable for many decades.

Griffith, in fact, carved out a small, flat portion of the park that did have development potential—today, the location of the Harding Memorial Golf Course—to keep for himself.

Some were impressed by Griffith's man-about-town demeanor; others were put off. The existing Art Deco style building was restored and the aging planetarium dome was replaced. Each of the Griffith Observatory's major exhibit areas focuses on a unique aspect of observation. The Samuel Oschin Planetarium features an array of cutting edge technologies that present world-class scientific educational programming for audiences of all ages. At 75 feet, the seamless, perforated aluminum dome is one of the largest planetarium domes in the world.

From the moment they pass through the historic bronze and leather doors, they are immersed in an environment carefully designed to create an authentic night sky and present high quality experiences that are not only awe-inspiring but thought provoking as well. For more info about current shows, showtimes and ticket prices, visit griffithobservatory. Intended mainly for nighttime viewing by the general public, the telescope usually targets the Moon, planets, and the brightest objects in the Milky Way.

The telescope serves up to visitors per night and is operated by one of the observatory's Telescope Demonstrators, who chooses the objects of observation, explains what is being viewed, and answers questions. The machine was repaired with the help of Kenneth Strickfaden, who designed electrical special effects for Frankenstein and The Wizard of Oz among many other movies. The Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon is a seat multi-media theatre that provides a modern venue for lectures, demonstrations, films, museum guide talks, and a variety of other activities.

The Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon is also an important venue for the observatory's school programs. The theatre uses a stadium-style seating configuration, which enables each audience member to feel close to the presenter. The Big Picture is one of the highlights of the Gunther Depths of Space exhibit hall, located on the lower level.

The Big Picture is the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed, measuring feet long by 20 feet high. The highly detailed image depicts the core of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and contains nearly a million faint galaxies, about half a million stars in our own galaxy the Milky Way , a thousand distant quasars, a thousand asteroids in our own Solar System, and at least one comet. Visitors can explore The Big Picture from within arm's reach or through telescopes placed 60 feet away.

Visitors don't even need to enter the Griffith Observatory to become observers. The exterior of the building offers a mix of exhibits and features that draw the eye and fuel the imagination, including the Solar System Lawn Model, Sunset and Moonset Radial Lines, and a rooftop observation deck.

When visitors arrive at the Griffith Observatory, they are greeted by the Astronomers Monument , a concrete outdoor sculpture on the front lawn that pays tribute to six of the greatest astronomers of all time: Hipparchus, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Herschel.