Section
Lick Observatory at 100, Cerro Tololo Inter-American, Mauna Kea's visitor restrictions, the small academic dome on a college roof.
Observatories
Late autumn in the Karoo brings the dry season's first cold nights to the SAAO summit. A May visit ahead of the heart of the southern winter observing season.
Observatories
The Pic du Midi de Bigorre in the French Pyrenees runs an overnight tourist program inside a working observatory. A two-night stay during the May new moon.
Observatories
The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope has operated on Mount Graham in Arizona since 1993. A spring visit to a small instrument that runs an unusual research program.
Observatories
The Yerkes Future Foundation has run the historic Williams Bay observatory since 2020. Five years into the private stewardship, the world's largest refractor is observing again.
Observatories
Above the Elqui Valley, the 0.9-meter and the 1.3-meter at Cerro Tololo still take queue-scheduled time for graduate students and amateur consortia. A May visit to the smaller domes.
Observatories
The Goodsell Observatory at Carleton College in Minnesota has hosted student observing for one hundred and forty-nine years. Its rooftop 0.4-meter is still on the curriculum.
Observatories
The 2024 visitor restrictions on Mauna Kea Access Road did not close the summit. They changed who reaches it, and why. A report from the visitor information station at 9,200 feet.
Observatories
The 36-inch refractor on Mount Hamilton turned a hundred and forty-eight in 2026, and the dome around it still opens most clear nights. A visit during the spring open house.