Saturday Night Telescope Viewing at Strasenburgh Planetarium
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sat, 07/17/2021
Please help us keep this calendar up to date! If this activity is sold out, canceled, or otherwise needs alteration, email mindy@kidsoutandabout.com so we can update it immediately. If you have a question about the activity itself, please contact the organization administrator listed below.
Climb 60 steps to get to our telescope! We will use the permanently installed telescope on the observing deck at the top of the tower at the back of the Planetarium.
Telescope Viewing at the Planetarium Observatory has been temporarily reopened for Saturday, July 17, 2021 from 9pm to 10:30pm, if the sky is clear enough.
Please call (585) 697-1945 on Saturday, July 17, 2021 to see if the program will occur.
Stay tuned and follow our social media pages for updates: @rocRMSC.
For more about telescope viewing and amateur astronomy, check out the astronomy club. This exceptionally friendly group welcomes beginners. Visit them at www.rochesterastronomy.org.
The Volunteers Behind the Strasenburgh Planetarium Telescope
Every Saturday night, as many as 100 people come to view the heavens through a telescope at the Strasenburgh Planetarium, thanks to volunteers from our leading local astronomy club: the Astronomy Section of the Rochester Academy of Science (ASRAS).
This active, friendly group has facilitated free telescope viewing at RMSC since the early 1960s. Most viewing today takes place at the top of a flight of 60 steps at the back of the Planetarium, the permanent home of a 12.5-inch-diameter reflecting telescope operated by ASRAS members. Club members often add telescopes of their own, either up on the observation deck or down at ground level.
Even though city lights surround the Planetarium, the moon, planets, and bright star clusters are still visible.
“A real telescope is important so you can see these sites for yourself,” says Jim Seidewand, ASRAS director of telescope activities at the Planetarium. “If you had the chance, which would you rather do — see the Grand Canyon in person or look at pictures on a computer monitor?”
ASRAS members help us out in the daytime too, presenting activities and information in the Planetarium lobby or the Museum.
ASRAS welcomes new members of all ages and experience levels. Monthly meetings take place at RIT or at the club’s dark-sky observing site, the Farash Center for Observational Astronomy in Ionia, New York.
*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.