The Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College is one of 40 major planetaria (among more than 1000 total) in the United States. As a comparison, there are almost 1900 planetaria worldwide. Parkland's Planetarium is named after the first president of Parkland College, William M. Staerkel.

The purpose of the Staerkel Planetarium is to provide educational and entertaining programming in Astronomy and the other sciences to area schools; students and faculty at Parkland College and the University of Illinois; and members of the community. Many shows are given throughout the year - in 1995-96, 867 shows were presented.

Although it is a part of the group of museums known as the Museums at the Crossroads Consortium, the Staerkel Planetarium is different from the other museums because it does not have rooms full of exhibits that visitors walk around to see. Instead, one might say that our "exhibits" are concepts that are brought to life with the aid of any of the equipment that is a part of the Planetarium: the Zeiss star projector; automation, sound and film systems; and the projection equipment. 

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