Perkins Observatory

Can you visit Perkins Observatory? Yes

Friday Evening Programs 8-10 pm, $10 by phone (740-363-1257), talk plus telescope viewing.

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 Perkins Observatory observes

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

How dark the sky is at Perkins Observatory

Perkins 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.

Perkins Observatory among the observatories of Ohio

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

The coordinates on this page point to zip 43015 (approximate): 40.293°N, 83.072°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 Perkins Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Swasey ObservatoryGranville, Ohio, 53 km (33 mi). Physics and Astronomy department open houses during the academic year (historic 9-inch refractor plus modern scopes)
• Warren Rupp ObservatoryMansfield, Ohio, 78 km (48 mi). Richland Astronomical Society public nights and events at Warren Rupp Observatory (see wro.org and Night Sky Network)
• Apollo ObservatoryDayton, Ohio, 111 km (69 mi). Operated by Miami Valley Astronomical Society atop Boonshoft Museum; club meetings and occasional public observing
• Wilderness Center ObservatoryWilmot, Ohio, 128 km (80 mi). Star Watch nights with TWC Astronomy Club at the Wilderness Center (check events calendar)

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Columbus Astronomical SocietyColumbus, Ohio, 5 km (3 mi). Meets 2nd Saturday monthly, 8 pm
• Richland Astronomical SocietyBellville, Ohio, 59 km (37 mi). Meets Monthly meetings at Ontario library or Warren Rupp Observatory
• Millstream Astronomy ClubFindlay, Ohio, 97 km (60 mi). Meets Programs at Riverbend Recreation Area, Lakefront Activity Center
• Stillwater StargazersTroy, Ohio, 100 km (62 mi). Meets 3rd Tuesday monthly, 7 pm
• Lima Astronomical SocietyLima, Ohio, 105 km (65 mi). Meets Monthly Friday, 8 pm

Star parties near Perkins Observatory

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Ohio 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.

Perkins Observatory record

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