The Planetarium opened its doors to the public on June 21, 1990. To this end, the Planetarium is open six days a week. Over 2000 teachers have taken workshops at the Planetarium which guide them in offering entertaining and effective ways to bring astronomy and space science into their classrooms. Staff have visited schools, clubs, and other venues to share the latest astronomical information. Volunteers from the NH Astronomical Society set up telescopes on the Planetarium lawn the first Friday of each month, so that families can see the rings of Saturn or distant nebulae, and later attend and astronomical lecture inside the theater.
Children participate in rocket-making and Mars workshops on the weekends.
The Planetarium's exhibits extend learning begun in the theater., including exhibits on the space shuttle, the International Space Station, Arabic astronomy, the Hubble Space Telescope, a human sundial, and murals of stars and planets. Both UNH and Dartmouth have faculty and staff with great expertise in both solar and stellar wind studies. The Planetarium has been working with the UNH faculty, staff, and students for two years on creating components of Planetarium shows for college students on the stellar wind, and has recently had UNH staff lecture on the sun to general audiences. During the second year, the Planetarium will focus on interactive exhibits that extend the learning begun in the solar show. The Planetarium's educational, production, and technical staff will work with astronomers, physicists, and students from UNH, Dartmouth, NASA, and other research organizations to make the technology involved in collecting information about the sun and its planets accessible to lifelong learners of all ages.