Lucile Miller Observatory.

University observatory · Maiden, North Carolina

Lucile Miller Observatory

Lucile Miller Observatory is an university observatory in Maiden, North Carolina. It is open to the public.

Lucile Miller Observatory in brief

Open to the public
Yes
Bortle class
Not yet rated

Official site

Can you visit Lucile Miller Observatory? Yes

Catawba Valley Astronomy Club observatory; periodic public nights and library STEAM programs.

A public night at an observatory usually starts at dusk with a short talk, then a line at the eyepiece of the main telescope for the Moon, a planet or a bright cluster, with volunteers' smaller telescopes set up outside. Dress for the night air even in summer: domes are not heated, so the telescope stays at outside temperature. Many nights sell out or cancel for clouds, so check the observatory's site on the day.

Lucile Miller Observatory
Lucile Miller Observatory

What Lucile Miller Observatory observes

The list does not describe the instruments at Lucile Miller Observatory yet; the official site has them.

How dark the sky is at Lucile Miller Observatory

Lucile Miller Observatory has no Bortle rating in the list yet. The scale below shows what each class looks like.

1 mag 8.0 21.99+ 2 mag 7.5 21.89+ 3 mag 7.0 21.69+ 4 mag 6.5 20.49+ 5 mag 6.0 19.50+ 6 mag 5.5 18.94+ 7 mag 5.0 18.38+ 8 mag 4.5 18.00+ 9 mag 4.0
The Bortle scale. Each panel shows the class number, the faintest star the naked eye reaches at the zenith, and the darkest-edge sky brightness reading of that class in mag/arcsec².

Sky brightness and class come from the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al. 2016, CC BY-NC 4.0), with natural skyglow added, at the coordinates below. Research telescopes are often sited on mountains above the haze, so the real sky can be darker than the map suggests.

Lucile Miller Observatory among the observatories of North Carolina

Graveyard Fields Hominy Valley County Park Linville Gorge Wilderness Mayland Earth to Sky Dark Sky Park Nantahala National Forest New River State Park Oak Island Beach Town Ocracoke Campground Pettigrew State Park Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute Observatory Croatan National Forest Uwharrie National Forest Cape Hatteras National Seashore Cape Lookout National Seashore Dark Sky Park Squirrel Valley Observatory Williams Observatory Three College Observatory Dark Sky Observatory Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute Willis Observatory Lucile Miller Observatory Maiden, North Carolina Lucile Miller Observatory Maiden, North Carolina
Dark sky place Research or private observatory Observatory open to the public

Green dots are observatories open to the public, blue dots research or private sites, squares dark sky places; select one for its page. See North Carolina observatories for the full list.

The coordinates on this page point to Lucile Miller Observatory, Maiden Middle School: 35.576°N, 81.206°W.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Open the larger map · Directions. Mountain observatory roads are often gated after dark; go only on a scheduled public night.

Dark sky places, observatories and clubs near Lucile Miller Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

PlaceWhereBortleDistance
Kings Mountain National Military ParkSouth Carolina451 km (32 mi)
Linville Gorge WildernessNorth Carolina473 km (45 mi)
Mayland Earth to Sky Dark Sky ParkNorth Carolina497 km (60 mi)
New River State ParkNorth Carolina3100 km (62 mi)
Uwharrie National ForestNorth Carolina4109 km (67 mi)
Sumter National ForestSouth Carolina4117 km (73 mi)

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

  • Williams ObservatoryBoiling Springs, North Carolina, 56 km (35 mi). Monthly community open houses and public viewing with Cleveland County Astronomical Society
  • Dark Sky ObservatoryPurlear, North Carolina, 82 km (51 mi). Monthly ticketed Saturday evening events (about 8:30-10:30 pm), buy online in advance; no visits outside these events
  • Willis ObservatoryBakersville, North Carolina, 101 km (62 mi). Stargazing visits with large refractor and 12-inch telescope, by arrangement; Airbnb lodging on site
  • Charles E. Daniel ObservatoryGreenville, South Carolina, 128 km (80 mi). Starry Nights public viewing on Friday nights through the historic 23-inch refractor; check Roper Mountain calendar

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

Star parties near Lucile Miller Observatory

Star partyNearDistanceUsual timing
Green Bank Star QuestGreen Bank, West Virginia340 km (212 mi)Summer
Almost Heaven Star PartyRiverton, West Virginia378 km (235 mi)New-moon weekend in August
Shenandoah Night Sky FestivalLuray, Virginia410 km (255 mi)Late summer
Cherry Springs Star PartyCoudersport, Pennsylvania738 km (458 mi)June, near new moon

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in North Carolina puts the dark sky places, observatories, clubs, star parties, planetariums and science centers of the state on one map, with the best night out worked out.

Lucile Miller Observatory record

Every value in the observatories dataset for Lucile Miller Observatory
ID115
NameLucile Miller Observatory
AddressMaiden Middle School campus
CityMaiden
StateNC
Zip28610
CountryUSA
Webhttps://www.catawbasky.org
Publicy
Lat35.57577
Lon-81.20614
LatLonSpotLucile Miller Observatory, Maiden Middle School
StatusActive
PublicNoteCatawba Valley Astronomy Club observatory; periodic public nights and library STEAM programs
Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Observatory; https://catawbacountync.gov/events/library/main-library-newton/adult-steam-lucile-miller-observatory/

From the site's observatories dataset (observatories_q426). Distances are computed from the coordinates.