DUE TO A WATER MAIN BREAK IN THE BUILDING, Open Houses are POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Clear weather only! Please go into Astronomy classroom, room 301 on the 3rd floor of Olin Science Center, then up stairs to dome. Additional open houses and rain dates may be announced on our web page at uobserve.com
Viewing targets can include: the Moon, Saturn and its moons, Mars, as well as deep sky objects beyond the solar system such as double stars, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.
Come view the skies through our 20″ reflecting telescope on the roof of the Olin Science Center! Open houses are free and open to the public.
Open houses for the general public are offered monthly, frequently timed near the first-quarter moon. These are clear-weather only events, so we are closed if there is any precipitation, strong winds, or mostly cloudy conditions. Note that with the exception of Homecoming and ReUnion weekends, all open houses are free and open to the public with no tickets or reservations required. Only for Homecoming and ReUnion open houses do we issue tickets at the Reamer Campus Center, and these tickets are free. The observatory hotline (518)-388-7100 announces the date and time of open houses as well as announces last-minute cancellations. These cancellations are often decided only 1/2 hour prior to the opening time, unless rain or fully-cloudy conditions make it obvious we cannot open.
Open houses will be canceled in the event of cloudy, rainy or snowy weather. Cancellations will be announced through the hotline at 388-7100.
The Union Observatory is located on the top of the Olin Center (off room 301), northeast of the Nott Memorial next to the Reamer Campus Center.
For additional information on the Open House or Dudley Observatory, contact Observatory Manager Francis Wilkin at (518) 388-6344 or via e-mail at wilkinf@union.edu.Union College, F.W. Olin Center, 807 Union St. Schenectady, NY 12308 (518) 388-6000. Further information may be found on the observatory website http://uobserve.com/
Click here for a map.
Fourteen films, archived for over fifty years, are making their debut on the new Dudley Observatory YouTube Channel today. The fascinating visuals of early astronomical documentaries and research materials will delight scientists and historians as well as the general public. To access the channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCExE2X58CRKN_GoSKtdQIzA. Highlights include: Trip to the Moon, The Mystery of Stonehenge, Adirondack Visions, and The Sikhote-Aline Meteorite.
“These short films enable easy access to important, and in their time, ground-breaking experiments made by Dudley astronomers, such as Curtis Hemenway’s rocket launches,” said Elissa Kane, interim executive director. “These 14 selections show the breadth of the archive – from raw footage in the field to educational films produced mid-century. Our collection is huge, and it is our intention to release new items to the channel regularly in our role as the Capital District’s Astronomy Resource.”
In addition to the new YouTube channel, the Dudley Observatory hosts and co-sponsors internships, professional development, school and community educational experiences, and star gazing in local rural locations where viewing is best.
The Dudley Observatory was chartered in 1852, and is currently housed at miSci, in Schenectady, New York. It is the oldest organization in the U.S. outside of academia and government dedicated to the support of astronomical research, and continues to serve the Capital Region through educational programs such as star parties, inflatable planetarium programs, and astronomy program partnerships.
We wish to thank the following for their generous support of these programs!
– Stewart’s Shops
– Times Union
– “Hope Fund” of The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region