The Addison White Greenway, Jr. Visitor Center

The Addison White Greenway, Jr. Visitor Center, located just southeast from the parking lot along a paved trail, was dedicated in 1947 by astronomy enthusiast and Caltech patron Kate Bruce Ricketts to honor the memory of her son.

At the Visitor Center's entrance, a large graphic banner of the nearby star-forming region known as the Orion Nebula (M42) invites visitors to explore the Universe as seen through the Palomar telescopes. A heavily-researched deep-sky object and a favorite among astrophotographers, the Orion Nebula is a typical star-forming region—not unlike that from which the Sun and the Solar System originated. Inside at the museum visitors learn about the history of the observatory, legendary scientific discoveries made with Palomar's telescopes and instruments since first light to the present, and the latest developments in the world of astronomy. The center also contains a gift shop and the ticket counter for docent guided tours.

Some of the observatory's exhibits have interactive aspects. Click below to learn more.

• Searching the Sky for Dangerous Neighbors
• Learning from Astronomical Spectra

The Visitor Center is open during the observatory's regular visiting hours. See our page on Visiting Palomar for opening hours, directions, and more information.

The Addison White Greenway, Jr. Visitor Center (Palomar Observatory/California Institute of Technology)

Greenway Visitor Center museum (Palomar Observatory/California Institute of Technology)