MTSU Observatory

Can you visit MTSU Observatory? Yes

MTSU Classical Observatory (16-inch) and Uranidrome naked-eye plaza; free public star parties each semester after physics lectures.

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 MTSU Observatory observes

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

How dark the sky is at MTSU Observatory

MTSU 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.

MTSU Observatory among the observatories of Tennessee

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

The coordinates on this page point to zip 37132 (approximate): 35.860°N, 86.421°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 MTSU Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Vanderbilt Dyer ObservatoryBrentwood, Tennessee, 37 km (23 mi). Ticketed Telescope Nights and Meet the Astronomer evenings (Eventbrite); free public star parties with Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society 1-2 times monthly
• Cordell-Lorenz ObservatorySewanee, Tennessee, 86 km (53 mi). Public viewing Thursdays 8-10 pm during academic terms (mid-Aug to mid-Dec, mid-Jan to mid-May)
• Clarence T. Jones ObservatoryChattanooga, Tennessee, 142 km (89 mi). UTC public lesson and viewing nights several times a year Oct-Apr, star parties and solstice seminars

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical SocietyNashville, Tennessee, 49 km (30 mi). Meets Monthly, Wednesday 7 pm
• Cumberland Astronomical SocietyGallatin, Tennessee, 58 km (36 mi). Meets Hendersonville Public Library, Hendersonville TN
• Von Braun Astronomical SocietyHuntsville, Alabama, 127 km (79 mi)
• Barnard Astronomical SocietyChattanooga, Tennessee, 143 km (89 mi). Meets Monthly, 6 pm social

Star parties near MTSU Observatory

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Tennessee 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.

MTSU Observatory record

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