Many facilities offer tours and some give peeks through a telescope on public nights.
Among the best-known public facilities is Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, where visitors can look at the Sun during the day and look through a professional scope at night..
Most important, putting an observatory on a mountaintop means there's less air to see through, so the "seeing" is better.
On a mountaintop, there's also less air above you to absorb light from the stars..
Many facilities offer tours and some give peeks through a telescope on public nights.
Among the best-known public facilities is Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, where visitors can look at the Sun during the day and look through a professional scope at night..
Most important, putting an observatory on a mountaintop means there's less air to see through, so the "seeing" is better.
On a mountaintop, there's also less air above you to absorb light from the stars..
Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Rudolph Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world, with the only older still existing observatory being the Vatican Observatory..
Many facilities offer tours and some give peeks through a telescope on public nights.
Among the best-known public facilities is Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, where visitors can look at the Sun during the day and look through a professional scope at night..
Most important, putting an observatory on a mountaintop means there's less air to see through, so the "seeing" is better.
On a mountaintop, there's also less air above you to absorb light from the stars..
There are many styles of home observatory.
Commercially made glass-reinforced plastic domes are an instant – although expensive – solution, but home-built options also include apex-roofed sheds with roll-off or lift-off roofs.
If space is tight you can make a small enclosure, which rolls back on wheels..
Observatories.
An astronomical observatory is a place or building used for observing events in space.
An observatory can contain just one telescope, but some have more than twenty telescopes.
Astronomers use observatories to collect light from natural objects in space..
Observatories are places where astronomers do their work.
Modern facilities are filled with telescopes and instruments that capture the light from distant objects.
These places are scattered around the planet, and people have been building them for thousands of years..
A planetarium is a 'sky theater' where special projectors create a simulation of the night sky on a dome ceiling.
An observatory is a place where telescopes are used to view the actual night sky, so the dome of an observatory does open, unlike the one in a planetarium..
Professional observatory telescopes can cost several million dollars, while smaller, amateur telescopes can cost several thousand dollars.
Additionally, there are different types of observatory telescopes, some are portable and others are permanent..
Every observatory (some planetariums
Too) on the list have public access to the BIG telescopes and most are completely FREE. Take note that this list is for open-to-the-public observatories located in America
Only. If you would like to help us grow our list of the best places to stargaze all over the Earth
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Location: Los Angeles, California
There are over 350 professional observatories operating telescopes for research in the United States. There are over 600 professional observatories operating worldwide (excluding the United States.
Location: Flagstaff, Arizona
Location: Fort David, Texas
Location:Boston, Massachusetts
Location:Washington, D.C.
Location: Socorro, New Mexico
Before jumping into the complete list with all the details, I thought it helpful to share a table showing my ranking of the best observatories across the U.S. This list of observatories was pulled from TripAdivsor, and the score was calculated using each observatories score, number of reviews, and percentage of “Excellent” reviews. The “Change” col.
The best astronomical observations in the world are happening in Hawaii
High atop the sacred mountain Mauna Kea. It is home to some of the most scientifically productive telescopes in the world
Making Hawaii an international leader in astronomical science.
While everyone can enjoy the wonders of the night sky from their backyard or a nearby dark sky destination
There’s nothing quite like visiting an observatory. Observatories offer awe-inspiring views of objects in our solar system and deep space..
Location:Williams Bay, Wisconsin
NASA space observatory designed to detect X-rays and gamma rays (1991–2000)
Observatory
At one time the second-largest telescope in the world
And still the largest in Canada.Several other telescopes are also located at the site
Which formerly also included a small radio telescope.The scientific legacy of the David Dunlap Observatory continues in the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics
A research institute at the University of Toronto established in 2008.
Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories
Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories has existed since the first telescope was built in the late 1960s.Originally part of research begun by Gerard Kuiper of the University of Arizona
The site has expanded into the world's largest observatory for infrared and submillimeter telescopes.Opposition to the telescope from residents in the city of Hilo
Hawaii were concerned about the visual appearance of the mountain and Native Hawaiians voiced concerns over the site being sacred to the Hawaiian religion as the home of several deities.Environmental groups and activists have been expressing concern over endangered species habitat.
Foremost astronomical observatory of France
The Paris Observatory
A research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University
Is the foremost astronomical observatory of France
And one of the largest astronomical centers in the world.Its historic building is on the Left Bank of the Seine in central Paris
But most of the staff work on a satellite campus in Meudon
A suburb southwest of Paris.
