Williams Observatory.

University observatory · Boiling Springs, North Carolina

Williams Observatory

Williams Observatory is an university observatory in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. It is open to the public.

Williams Observatory in brief

Open to the public
Yes
Bortle class
Not yet rated

Official site

Can you visit Williams Observatory? Yes

Monthly community open houses and public viewing with Cleveland County Astronomical Society.

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.

Williams Observatory
Williams Observatory

Telescopes at Williams Observatory

20-inch telescope.

How dark the sky is at Williams Observatory

Williams Observatory has no Bortle rating in the list yet. The scale below shows what each class looks like.

1 mag 8.0 21.99+ 2 mag 7.5 21.89+ 3 mag 7.0 21.69+ 4 mag 6.5 20.49+ 5 mag 6.0 19.50+ 6 mag 5.5 18.94+ 7 mag 5.0 18.38+ 8 mag 4.5 18.00+ 9 mag 4.0
The Bortle scale. Each panel shows the class number, the faintest star the naked eye reaches at the zenith, and the darkest-edge sky brightness reading of that class in mag/arcsec².

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.

Williams Observatory among the observatories of North Carolina

Graveyard Fields Hominy Valley County Park Linville Gorge Wilderness Mayland Earth to Sky Dark Sky Park Nantahala National Forest New River State Park Oak Island Beach Town Ocracoke Campground Pettigrew State Park Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute Observatory Croatan National Forest Uwharrie National Forest Cape Hatteras National Seashore Cape Lookout National Seashore Dark Sky Park Squirrel Valley Observatory Lucile Miller Observatory Three College Observatory Dark Sky Observatory Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute Willis Observatory Williams Observatory Boiling Springs, North Carolina Williams Observatory Boiling Springs, North Carolina
Dark sky place Research or private observatory Observatory open to the public

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

The coordinates on this page point to Williams Observatory, Gardner-Webb University: 35.244°N, 81.671°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 Williams Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

PlaceWhereBortleDistance
Kings Mountain National Military ParkSouth Carolina428 km (18 mi)
Sumter National ForestSouth Carolina475 km (47 mi)
Linville Gorge WildernessNorth Carolina476 km (47 mi)
Jones Gap State ParkSouth Carolina483 km (52 mi)
Mayland Earth to Sky Dark Sky ParkNorth Carolina489 km (55 mi)
Hominy Valley County ParkNorth Carolina496 km (60 mi)

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

  • Lucile Miller ObservatoryMaiden, North Carolina, 56 km (35 mi). Catawba Valley Astronomy Club observatory; periodic public nights and library STEAM programs
  • Charles E. Daniel ObservatoryGreenville, South Carolina, 72 km (45 mi). Starry Nights public viewing on Friday nights through the historic 23-inch refractor; check Roper Mountain calendar
  • Willis ObservatoryBakersville, North Carolina, 98 km (61 mi). Stargazing visits with large refractor and 12-inch telescope, by arrangement; Airbnb lodging on site
  • Dark Sky ObservatoryPurlear, North Carolina, 108 km (67 mi). Monthly ticketed Saturday evening events (about 8:30-10:30 pm), buy online in advance; no visits outside these events
  • Pisgah Astronomical Research InstituteRosman, North Carolina, 110 km (68 mi). Public star gazes and solar observing with the Astronomy Club of Asheville (e.g. Apr 2025); daytime tours; Wednesdays at PARI program

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

Star parties near Williams Observatory

Star partyNearDistanceUsual timing
Green Bank Star QuestGreen Bank, West Virginia391 km (243 mi)Summer
Almost Heaven Star PartyRiverton, West Virginia429 km (266 mi)New-moon weekend in August
Shenandoah Night Sky FestivalLuray, Virginia464 km (289 mi)Late summer
Midsouth StargazeFrench Camp, Mississippi742 km (461 mi)Spring

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in North Carolina 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.

Williams Observatory record

Every value in the observatories dataset for Williams Observatory
ID43
NameWilliams Observatory
AddressGardner-Webb University
CityBoiling Springs
StateNC
Zip02807
CountryUSA
Webhttps://gardner-webb.edu/resources/community-resources/crave-w-williams-observatory/
Publicy
Telescope20-inch telescope
Lat35.24415
Lon-81.67095
LatLonSpotWilliams Observatory, Gardner-Webb University
StatusActive
PublicNoteMonthly community open houses and public viewing with Cleveland County Astronomical Society
Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_Observatory; https://calendar.gardner-webb.edu/event/public-astronomy-viewing-with-cleveland-county-astronomical-society-2119

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