William M Staerkel Planetarium

The Staerkel Planetarium is a hidden gem in the Champaign area.
The Good: The planetarium theater itself was beautiful. Located on the Parkland College campus, the planetarium’s state-​of-​the-​art digital projection system, operated by the (nicest) planetarium director, Dave Leake, proved to be breathtaking. His storytelling held my son’s attention the entire time — and I’m sure seeing Santa up in the sky didn’t hurt either!
The Bad: At the time of our visit, campus construction blocked the front entrance of the planetarium, making it a bit difficult to navigate our way inside.
Overall: We loved the kid-​friendly show at the William M. Staerkel Planetarium, and would certainly return for another show!

This is a very special place hidden in the cornfields. As the second largest planetarium in Illinois after the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, we are able to see some amazing shows. There is too much to list here, so i would advise checking out their website. Basically it is open to the public on Fri and Sat. nights. There are usually classic, live prairie sky shows with scientific narration of what you are seeing accompanied by ancient stories. The last showing on Friday evenings is a light + music show usually with the Doors or something similar. There are also very special shows which educate people about different cultures and how they’ve used the stars to survive. They have a special children’s series as well.