Shows, Telescopes, Exhibits, and More

Free telescope viewing is available each evening the Observatory is open and skies are clear. Knowledgeable telescope demonstrators are available to guide visitors in observing.

Observing usually begins around 7:00 p.m. Please be aware the demonstrators must cut off the line for each telescope at 9:30 p.m. or earlier to enable all viewing to be completed by 9:45 p.m. Hours for telescope operation are not the same as for the building (which closes at 10:00 p.m.).

When the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky, directly overhead the Observatory’s meridian line, we celebrate local noon. A Museum Guide gives a free 15-minute presentation explaining how we use the Sun’s light in the Gottlieb Transit Corridor to tell us what day it is and where the Sun is located in its pathway across the sky.

Show Length: 15 min.

Museum Guides use The Big Picture – the largest astronomical image in the world – to help explain the nature of the universe and our place in space. The eight-minute presentation is free. The Big Picture is located in the Gunther Depths of Space exhibit gallery.

Show Length: 8 min.

With its giant arcing sparks and unnerving noise, Griffith Observatory's Tesla coil is one of its most memorable and iconic exhibits. Millions have seen it in operation, throwing its lightning-like discharges to the walls of its alcove.

Show Length: 6 min.

The Once and Future Griffith Observatory is a free film that offers an overview of the Observatory’s programs and exhibits and discusses how the building was renewed during the 2002-2006 renovation and expansion project. The film will return in November 2024.

Pacific Standard Universe is an original short film by Griffith Observatory and a program of PST ART, the Getty's landmark regional event exploring the intersections of art and science, with additional support from Griffith Observatory Foundation. The film is about the way people used art to explain the cosmos for thousands of years until the modern universe was discovered in southern California.

Show Length: 35 min.

Clues from Comets is a free program for all ages that illustrates the importance of observing carefully and demonstrates modern methods of solving a mystery as cryptic as the nature of comets.

Signs of Life is an astronomical detective story that propels visitors to uncover what it took to put life in the universe. Earth is the launchpad to Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and planets beyond our Milky Way Galaxy in a search for answers to the mysteries that captivate our imagination.

Show Length: 35 min.

We often imagine ourselves at the center of things. That includes our place in the universe, ever since the first people looked up at the sky. Even as our scientific observation has shown the cosmos does not revolve around us, our ongoing investigations continue to keep us Centered in the Universe.

Show Length: 35 min.

Water Is Life was written and produced for Griffith Observatory’s fifth grade school field trip program. Drawing on the fifth grade science content standards, Water Is Life explores where our water in California comes from, and how water on Earth keeps us alive.

Show Length: 32 min.