Cincinnati Observatory

Can you visit Cincinnati Observatory? Yes

Weekly Astronomy Evenings (talk plus viewing through the 1845 Mitchel telescope), $15 adults, reservations required; other themed nights.

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 Cincinnati Observatory

16-inch, 11-inch refractors.

How dark the sky is at Cincinnati Observatory

Cincinnati 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.

Cincinnati 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 45208 (approximate): 39.136°N, 84.436°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 Cincinnati Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Apollo ObservatoryDayton, Ohio, 75 km (47 mi). Operated by Miami Valley Astronomical Society atop Boonshoft Museum; club meetings and occasional public observing
• Morehead State 21 m Space Tracking AntennaMorehead, Kentucky, 135 km (84 mi). Space Science Center has a planetarium with public shows; antenna tours by arrangement
• Ball State University ObservatoryMuncie, Indiana, 140 km (87 mi). Free public planetarium shows on select Fri-Sat evenings with live sky tour; observatory public viewing not confirmed

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Cincinnati Astronomical SocietyCleves, Ohio, 27 km (16 mi)
• Miami Valley Astronomical SocietyDayton, Ohio, 80 km (49 mi). Meets Monthly general meeting Friday, 7 pm
• Stillwater StargazersTroy, Ohio, 102 km (63 mi). Meets 3rd Tuesday monthly, 7 pm
• Bluegrass Amateur Astronomy ClubLexington, Kentucky, 122 km (76 mi)
• Muncie Astronomy ClubMuncie, Indiana, 145 km (90 mi). Meets Monthly meetings at Minnetrista Museum and Gardens, 1200 N Minnetrista Pkwy

Star parties near Cincinnati 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.

Cincinnati Observatory record

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