Summer Solstice Tomorrow

Astronomer Ray Martin shows a museum visitor how to use his filtered solar telescope to view the surface of the sun.

Join us tomorrow between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm for the 18th Annual Summer Solstice Celebration at the UW Art Museum! This event happens every year on the first day of summer and is a great way celebrate the end of Wyoming's long winter, and to learn about the sun and the unique architecture of the Art Museum! At exactly noon, the sun illuminates a silver dollar in the center of the Rotunda Gallery floor through a special solar tube in the ceiling that the architect included for exactly this purpose! Astronomer Ray Martin will also be set up on the terrace with his solar telescope, which allows visitors to safely view the sun's surface.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that the rainy weather clears up by tomorrow! Please join us for this fun and free community event. For more information, please call 307.766.6622.

One Week Until the Summer Solstice Celebration

Astronomer Ray Martin helps a museum visitor use his filtered solar telescope to safely view the surface of the sun.

The official start of summer is only one week away! After Wyoming's long winter, the Art Museum likes to celebrate the longest day of the year, and the first day of summer, at the annual Summer Solstice Celebration. Please join us for this free event on Tuesday, June 21 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Every year on the summer solstice at exactly noon, a unique architectural feature of the museum - a solar tube in the ceiling of the Rotunda Gallery - brings in a beam sunlight that illuminates a silver dollar that is set in the center of the floor. This is the highlight of the Summer Solstice event, but in addition, astronomer Ray Martin will have his filtered solar telescope set up on the sculpture terrace, allowing museum visitors to safely view the surface of the sun.

Please join us in celebrating the Summer Solstice in one week! For more information, call 307.766.6622. This event is free and open to the public.

Summer Arrives at the Art Museum

The sun shone on the Rotunda center at noon.

More than 100 people gathered in the Art Museum to watch a beam of sunlight make its annual trek to the light up the silver dollar in the center of the Rotunda today.  Many applauded the coming of summer.  On the terrace, many visitors looked at the sun through Ray Martin's massive telescope.  This was the 18th Summer Solstice Celebration at the Art Museum.