Allegheny Observatory

Can you visit Allegheny Observatory? Yes

Free evening tours Fridays Apr-Oct and Thursdays May-Aug; reservations required.

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.

Telescopes at Allegheny Observatory

30-inch, 13-inch refractors; 13-inch reflector.

3rd largest refractor in U.S. (30-in)

How dark the sky is at Allegheny Observatory

Allegheny 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.

Allegheny Observatory among the observatories of Pennsylvania

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

The coordinates on this page point to Allegheny Observatory building, Riverview Park (map pin): 40.483°N, 80.023°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 Allegheny Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• WVU Planetarium and Observatory (Tomchin Observatory)Morgantown, West Virginia, 95 km (59 mi). Free WVU Planetarium public shows; dome opened for telescope viewing after shows when clear
• Oil Region Astronomical ObservatoryVenango County, Pennsylvania, 103 km (64 mi). ORAS public nights and the ASTROBLAST star party (Oct) at the Astronomy Learning Center
• Wilderness Center ObservatoryWilmot, Ohio, 138 km (85 mi). Star Watch nights with TWC Astronomy Club at the Wilderness Center (check events calendar)

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Amateur Astronomers Assoc of PittsburghGlenshaw, Pennsylvania, 8 km (5 mi). Meets 2nd Friday monthly Sep-May, public lecture (see 3ap.org for venue)
• WVU Astronomy ClubMorgantown, West Virginia, 93 km (58 mi)
• Oil Region Astronomical SocietyOil City, Pennsylvania, 109 km (68 mi)
• Mahoning Valley Astronomical SocietyNewton Falls, Ohio, 112 km (70 mi). Meets Last Saturday monthly: Apr-Oct 8 pm at the club observatory, Braceville; Nov-Mar 6 pm
• Central Appalachian Astronomy ClubGrafton, West Virginia, 127 km (79 mi)

Star parties near Allegheny Observatory

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Pennsylvania 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.

Allegheny Observatory record

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