Maryland Space Grant Observatory

Observatory Open Houses are generally held on Friday evenings, weather permitting, starting typically an hour after sunset. Opening and closing times vary with the seasons, weather and other factors. Checking this webpage after 4 p.m. the day of a scheduled event is the best way to be informed. Open Houses are free and open to the public. Follow us on Instagram for Observatory announcements and other MDSGC news. E.g.: How to find the Observatory.

Fall 2026 Update: We plan to be open most Fridays until the end of December and a few Tuesdays close to the first-quarter moon (9/22, 10/20, 11/17, 12/15). Final decisions will be announced on this website as early as possible on the day of the event. Saturn is returning for the season! And Jupiter will join in again toward the end of the fall semester. We will also often make use of our cameras, including our Vespera smart telescope, to do imaging of deep sky objects such as star clusters, nebulae and nearby galaxies. Some of the images so acquired are available here.

Click here for directions for Observatory Open Houses and click here for how to find the Observatory once you are on campus. When trying to enter the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy in the evening, some doors will be locked. The door on the northeast side (facing the athletic practice field) is often open. If not, walk clockwise around the building to the courtyard on the campus side, and if necessary wait there until someone can let you in. Once you’re in the building, you can take the main elevator to the 4th floor and use the stairs next to it to climb the rest of the way to the roof.

The Morris W. Offit Telescope is the major observing instrument located under the Stanley D. and Joan F. Greenblatt Dome, on the roof of the Bloomberg Center.

Observatory Open House | Morris W. Offit Telescope | Upcoming Events | Telescope Training