Open Houses (Public Nights)

Every semester, the department runs a number of Public Nights when the campus and general public are invited to come up to the observatory and observe the sky through the main telescope. Weather permitting, these are usually scheduled on the first Friday after the first quarter Moon. The start and end times of these events vary with the seasons. The schedule for the current semester is:

The observatory's telescope is currently out of commission. Public nights at CFO are cancelled for the rest of the semester.

Attending a Public Night

To attend a public night, wait in front of the Center for Health Sciences building (at F-lot). A shuttle van will make regular runs to convey people up to the Observatory and back down. Please note - there is no parking available up at the Observatory. The access road is NOT lighted, so please do not walk up.

Bad Weather Plan:

The Go/No-Go decision for any public night will be made at 3:30 PM on the scheduled date. This page and the recorded message at the observatory will be updated shortly thereafter to reflect the decision for that evening. So reload this page or call the observatory at 274-3012 after about 4:00 PM (to give us time to update things) to get the final decision for that evening.