Stargazing

For Friday, April 26th, the telescopes will be open at 8:30pm weather permitting.  The current weather forecast is for clear skies, but the planetarium is down for an upgrade and is not available for a show if it ends up cloudy.  We hope you can join us!

Monthly Stargazing is sponsored by the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Astronomy Club during the fall and spring semesters. We are closed from May-August during the Penn State summer sessions. However, stargazing is offered in mid-July as part of our AstroFest program.

On the last Friday of each month from 8:30 – 10:30 pm, the public is welcome to join us on the roof of Davey Lab to observe planets, stars, and deep space objects like nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters that are currently visible in the sky using a variety of telescopes (weather permitting). There is no fee to attend, and no RSVP is necessary.  If the weather is cloudy, we will instead meet on the fifth floor (room 541A Davey Lab) for a planetarium show.  

During the fall and spring, we will also occasionally host “Stars and Scientists” nights on Fridays where a researcher will present a brief science talk about their work, followed by rooftop telescope observing if the weather is clear.  The talks will be held on the fifth floor (room 538) and will begin at 8:30pm.

You have several options to find out if we will be open on a given Friday night:

·         Follow our AstroFest Facebook page

·         Follow PSUObservatory on Twitter / X