General: Approximately once a month we have public viewing open houses on a weekend night near first quarter moon. The dates for these are posted at this website approximately two weeks in advance. During special astronomical events we may also have special public viewing sessions. The times for open houses depend on local sunset times, but generally start about an hour after sunset and go on for 2-3 hours thereafter. During summer months, when school is not in session, we might have additional open houses. During mid-November through mid-February we suspend open houses due to the combination of bad weather and holidays. Reservations for special nights by groups or for during scheduled open houses are not practical given our limited staff, so viewing through the 16 inch telescope is done on a "first-come, first-served" basis (sign-up sheets during high attendance nights). School groups interested in seeing an astronomical observatory and looking through telescopes should contact the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park (281-242-3055), which is a larger facility dedicated to serving schools in the Houston area, and one which has weekly public viewing on Saturdays.
Fees: Unless specifically noted as Rice only or private above, the open houses are available to anyone. Aside from parking described above, there is no fee to attend the observatory open house.
Notes on Telescopes: The best views of planets, stars clusters and nebulae are with our computerized 16 inch telescope inside the dome, but we can only accommodate about 60 people an hour looking through it and on busy nights a sign-up system is employed. However, in addition to this telescope, there will be 2-3 (or more) smaller telescopes set up in the parking lot for viewing. These smaller telescopes do not require sign in. Our experience has been that the large telescope is able to see planets and the Moon well through thin clouds, and if it is clear we get good views from the smaller portable scopes as well. When the Moon is out, we will get some wonderful resolution with all the telescopes. If you have small children (i.e., less than about 7 years old, we recommend that they use the telescopes set up in the parking lot. The wait to see through these telescopes is much shorter than for the telescope in the dome, and small children are rarely able to discern any more detail through the large telescope. The Moon is probably the ideal target for children, as it is bright and easy to see.
|
For more information about astronomy and space science at Rice please refer to our research pages and our course listings Additional space-related events of interest to the public can be found on the Rice Space Institute home page.