Ritter Observatory

Can you visit Ritter Observatory? Yes

First Friday monthly the public planetarium program (7:30 pm, 8:30 pm May-Sep; $8 adults) observes with the Ritter 1m, weather permitting.

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 Ritter Observatory observes

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

How dark the sky is at Ritter Observatory

Ritter 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.

Ritter 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 city Toledo (approximate): 41.664°N, 83.555°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 Ritter Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Ritter Planetarium and Brooks ObservatoryToledo, Ohio, 4 km (3 mi). Friday evening planetarium shows ($8 adults) followed by telescope viewing at Brooks Observatory atop McMaster Hall, weather permitting
• Sherzer ObservatoryYpsilanti, Michigan, 64 km (39 mi). Open to the public on clear Monday evenings 7:30 pm Oct-Apr, select evenings in summer, with EMU Astronomy Club
• Detroit ObservatoryAnn Arbor, Michigan, 70 km (43 mi). Saturday open houses (e.g. noon-5 pm) and special events; Lowbrow Astronomers meet here monthly
• Angell Hall Student ObservatoryAnn Arbor, Michigan, 71 km (44 mi). Free public open houses on select Friday nights, about 9-11 pm
• Peach Mountain ObservatoryDexter, Michigan, 82 km (51 mi). Free public open houses on select Saturday nights from dusk
• Warren Rupp ObservatoryMansfield, Ohio, 126 km (78 mi). Richland Astronomical Society public nights and events at Warren Rupp Observatory (see wro.org and Night Sky Network)

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Toledo Astronomical AssocToledo, Ohio, 0 km (0 mi)
• Eastern Michigan Univ. Astronomy ClubYpsilanti, Michigan, 64 km (39 mi). Meets Eastern Michigan University campus, Ypsilanti
• Millstream Astronomy ClubFindlay, Ohio, 69 km (43 mi). Meets Programs at Riverbend Recreation Area, Lakefront Activity Center
• University Lowbrow AstronomersAnn Arbor, Michigan, 71 km (44 mi)
• Ford Amateur Astronomy ClubDearborn, Michigan, 72 km (45 mi)

Star parties near Ritter 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.

Ritter Observatory record

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