Maryland Space Grant Observatory
Observatory Status
Friday, June 5
Weather permitting, the observatory will be open in the evening Friday, June 5. Check that day for details!
Follow us on Instagram for Observatory announcements and other MDSGC news. E.g.: How to find the 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 tentative event is the best way to be informed. Open Houses are free and open to the public.
Summer 2026 Update: We plan to be open most Fridays from the end of May to the end of August plus select Tuesdays (6/9, 6/23, 7/21, 8/18) that coincide with planetary alignments or first quarter lunar phase. Final decisions will be announced on this website as early as possible on the day of the event. Jupiter will soon be setting too early to observe in the evening, but Saturn will return toward the end of the summer! We will also often make use of our cameras, including our newly acquired smart telescope, and 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.