USU Observatory Welcomes Public Friday, Oct. 6

The Utah State University Observatory opens its doors to the public Friday, Oct. 6. All are invited to view Cache Valley’s night sky from the observatory telescope from 8-10 p.m. All ages are welcome and admission is free.

“We invite the Cache Valley community to enjoy star-gazing from our state-of-the-art facility,” says James Coburn, Department of Physics teaching laboratory supervisor and USUO coordinator. “Our primary viewing targets for Oct. 6 will be Saturn, Albireo, the Ring Nebula, the ET Cluster, the M22 Globular Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy.”

Located on the roof of USU’s Science Engineering Research (SER) building, the observatory houses a 20-inch reflecting telescope on a computerized mount that yields clear, crisp images of faraway planets and deep space objects. The observatory’s unique, half-circle building, designed and constructed by USU Facilities, features a circular staircase that leads to the telescope gallery topped with a metal dome measuring 16.5 feet in diameter.

IMPORTANT NOTE: All attendees are encouraged to visit the USU Observatory website prior to arrival on public night, as the gathering will be cancelled in the event of cloudy or inclement weather.

Additional public viewing nights are scheduled for Nov. 3 and Dec. 1.

The observatory’s telescope is accessible by stairs only from the SER building’s rooftop deck.

Parking for the event is available near the Caine Performance Hall at 1090 East 675 North on the USU campus and in the Gateway Parking Terrace at 1070 East 700 North in Logan. The SER building is southwest of the Caine Performance Hall. To access the observatory, visitors should take the freight elevator located at the northwest corner of the first floor of the SER building to the roof. For directions, visit the observatory parking information page. For additional parking information, visit USU Parking and Transportation Services’ Visitor Parking website.

USU students are the primary beneficiaries of the observatory, which was completed in 2009. More than 700 Aggies are enrolled in fall astronomy classes, which afford them access to USUO.