Oakley Observatory

Can you visit Oakley Observatory? Yes

Free public open houses about six times a year (e.g. Feb, May, Jul, Aug 2026); two flights of outdoor stairs.

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 Oakley Observatory observes

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

How dark the sky is at Oakley Observatory

Oakley 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.

Oakley Observatory among the observatories of Indiana

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

The coordinates on this page point to zip 47803 (approximate): 39.466°N, 87.354°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 Oakley Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• John C. Hook Memorial ObservatoryTerre Haute, Indiana, 5 km (3 mi). Indiana State University campus observatory; public viewing events announced by ISU
• McKim ObservatoryGreencastle, Indiana, 46 km (29 mi). Free astronomy open houses on about six Friday evenings each semester
• Goethe Link ObservatoryMartinsville, Indiana, 76 km (47 mi). Indiana Astronomical Society holds public sessions and monthly meetings at the observatory's 36-inch telescope; see IAS events calendar
• Kirkwood ObservatoryBloomington, Indiana, 81 km (51 mi). Free open houses Wednesday evenings from spring break to Thanksgiving, weather permitting; no reservation
• University of Illinois ObservatoryUrbana, Illinois, 102 km (63 mi). Free open house 2nd Friday monthly (next Friday if cloudy) run by the Urbana Illinois Astronomical Society; NPS grant for rehabilitation 2026
• Holcomb Observatory and PlanetariumIndianapolis, Indiana, 108 km (67 mi). Weekend planetarium shows ($8 adults) with free telescope viewing after when clear; Holcomb 38-inch telescope under repair, portable scopes used

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Rose-Hulman Astronomical SocietyTerre Haute, Indiana, 0 km (0 mi)
• Indiana Astronomical SocietyMooresville, Indiana, 86 km (53 mi). Meets Saturday nights at Goethe Link Observatory or Mooresville Public Library
• Champaign-Urbana Astronomical SocietyTolono, Illinois, 97 km (60 mi). Meets 2nd Thursday monthly (see cuas.org for venue)
• Astronomical Society at University of IllinoisUrbana, Illinois, 103 km (64 mi). Meets Bi-weekly during semester, University of Illinois campus
• Wabash Valley Astronomical SocietyWest Lafayette, Indiana, 115 km (71 mi). Meets Monthly open meetings, usually Saturday 7 pm

Star parties near Oakley Observatory

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Indiana 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.

Oakley Observatory record

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