Open House Schedule

 

Our Spring Semester schedule of events is complete.Thanks to all who attended! We hope you had an enjoyable visit.

Check back here or on our Facebook page in the near future to hear about events over the summer. Currently, we're planning on only a couple events over the summer: On May 16 and 17 (rainday 18), we'll have Open Houses in conjunction with the Science Olympiad National Tournament. These events will happen from 9 pm to 10:30 pm. Then in the late afternoon/early evening of June 5, we will be watching the Transit of Venus, an event that won't happen again until the 22nd Century. We'll have details about that posted in the future.

Fall Semester events will be announced in mid-August.

 

 

Florida's fickle weather means that we cannot be sure an Open House will occur until just before the scheduled time it starts.

Below is the Spring 2012 schedule of Open Houses. Note that green means we are open, red means closed due to weather, holiday, or conferences, and white means we haven't decided yet.  Check back to this webpage approximately 30 to 60 minutes before the start time of the event to see if the weather will allow us to be open. The events are free. Parking is free but limited. No reservations/registrations are required (though if you're bringing a big group, let us know). If you have any questions about Open House, send email to planets@physics.ucf.edu.
Note that we are generally closed during UCF's summer, but we will be having special events on May 16, May 17, and June 5. Details will be forthcoming.

Main Telescope/Dome status: Offline.    Temporarily, but we still set up our four 8" telescopes!

No. Date Time Sunset

End of Civil Twilight

Moon Phase and Illumination

 Astronomy Society meeting?
1 Wed Jan 18 7:30-9:30pm EST 5:53pm EST 6:17pm EST waning crescent, 21%
 Yes  
2 Thu Jan 26 7:30-9:30pm EST 5:59pm EST 6:23pm EST waxing crescent, 14% Yes
3 Wed Feb 1 7:30-9:30pm EST 6:04pm EST 6:28pm EST waxing gibbous, 68% Yes
4 Thu Feb 9 7:30-9:30pm EST 6:11pm EST 6:34pm EST waning gibbous, 94% No
5 Wed Feb 15 7:30-9:30pm EST 6:15pm EST 6:38pm EST waning crescent, 35%  
6 Thu Feb 23 7:30-9:30pm EST 6:21pm EST 6:45pm EST waxing crescent, 4%  
7 Wed Feb 29 7:30-9:30pm EST 6:25pm EST 6:48pm EST first quarter, 50%  
8 Thu Mar 15 8:30-10:00pm EDT 7:34pm EDT 7:57pm EDT waning crescent, 39%  
9 Wed Mar 21 8:30-10:00pm EDT 7:38pm EDT 8:00pm EDT new moon, 0%  
10 Thu Mar 29 8:30-10:00pm EDT 7:41pm EDT 8:04pm EDT waxing crescent, 42%  
11 Wed Apr 4 8:30-10:30pm EDT 7:45pm EDT 8:08pm EDT waxing gibbous, 96%  
12 Thu Apr 12 9:00-11:00pm EDT 7:50pm EDT 8:13pm EDT last quarter, 54%  
13 Wed Apr 18 9:00-11:00pm EDT 7:53pm EDT 8:17pm EDT waning crescent, 5%  

The Observatory is open for members of the public as well as students to come and enjoy the heavens on the dates and times listed above. During the open houses there are several 8-inch telescopes set up for viewing with an eyepiece, as well as the featured 20-inch telescope for deep sky observation. All dates and times are subject to clear skies for observing.

 

 

For driving directions see here