Macalester College Observatory

Can you visit Macalester College Observatory? Yes

Occasional free open observatory nights listed on the Macalester calendar.

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.

What Macalester College Observatory observes

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

How dark the sky is at Macalester College Observatory

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

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.

Macalester College Observatory among the observatories of Minnesota

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

The coordinates on this page point to zip 55105 (approximate): 44.935°N, 93.165°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 Macalester College Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Eisenhower ObservatoryHopkins, Minnesota, 22 km (13 mi). Hopkins Community Education public viewing nights (register via Community Ed), fall and winter-spring sessions
• Goodsell ObservatoryNorthfield, Minnesota, 53 km (33 mi). Free monthly Friday open houses, about 7-9 pm, with historic and modern telescopes; check site for weather cancellations
• Eagle Lake Observatory (Onan Observatory)Norwood-Young America, Minnesota, 62 km (39 mi). Minnesota Astronomical Society public star parties at Eagle Lake Observatory (see mnastro.org calendar)
• Sola Fide ObservatoryAustin, Minnesota, 141 km (88 mi). Free public viewing on select Saturdays Apr-Sep, 9-11 pm, alternating moon and deep-sky nights
• Hobbs ObservatoryFall Creek, Wisconsin, 149 km (93 mi). Public observing Saturdays May-Oct when clear, from 30-45 min after sunset for about two hours (none during Northwoods Starfest); CVAS volunteers

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Minnesota Astronomical SocietyMinneapolis, Minnesota, 9 km (6 mi)
• Steele County Astronomical SocietyOwatonna, Minnesota, 95 km (59 mi). Meets 1st Thursday monthly, 6:30 pm
• Rochester Astronomy ClubRochester, Minnesota, 117 km (73 mi). Meets Monthly Tuesday, 7-9 pm
• Chippewa Valley Astronomical SocietyFall Creek, Wisconsin, 149 km (93 mi). Meets Monthly business meeting, 7:30 pm

Star parties near Macalester College Observatory

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Minnesota 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.

Macalester College Observatory record

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