The Zeiss can show the daily motions of the sky, the sun, the moon, and the positions of the stars on almost any given day, as well as various astronomical grids and scales.

Auxiliary equipment allows projection of rainbows, clouds, solar and lunar eclipses, rotating galaxies, double star systems, and varied constellations.

The Staerkel Planetarium has the capability of showing 35mm films and can project an image over more than one-third of the dome surface area.

The solar window is a gift given in August 1987 by Dr. and Mrs. William M. Staerkel in memory of their parents and as a tribute to the dedicated Parkland College faculty and staff.

When the sun shines through the window, embedded prisms split the sunlight into its component colors and cast small rainbow-like patterns called spectra inside the building.

Celestial objects, constellation figures invented by our ancestors, space-age mechanical explorers and the images then beamed back to us, and the intellectual giants whose investigations peeled away layers of the unknown all are represented in the mural.

Jackson pays homage to the continuing, local nature of the quest through inclusion of Dr. Staerkel and representative Parkland students and faculty.