Wilderness Center Observatory

Can you visit Wilderness Center Observatory? Yes

Star Watch nights with TWC Astronomy Club at the Wilderness Center (check events calendar).

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 Wilderness Center Observatory

16-in Richey-Chreiten, 10-in Meade LX200, 6-in Astrophysics refractor.

How dark the sky is at Wilderness Center Observatory

Wilderness Center 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.

Wilderness Center 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 44689 (approximate): 40.657°N, 81.635°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 Wilderness Center Observatory

Wilderness Center Observatory is about 24 km (15 mi) from Fry Family Park County Park, a Bortle Class 5 dark sky place. See Fry Family Park County Park for camping, where to set up and the sky by season.

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Warren Rupp ObservatoryMansfield, Ohio, 77 km (48 mi). Richland Astronomical Society public nights and events at Warren Rupp Observatory (see wro.org and Night Sky Network)
• Burrell Memorial ObservatoryBerea, Ohio, 81 km (51 mi). Burrell Observatory Lecture Series with observatory open house, monthly during the academic year; free
• Swasey ObservatoryGranville, Ohio, 99 km (61 mi). Physics and Astronomy department open houses during the academic year (historic 9-inch refractor plus modern scopes)
• Perkins ObservatoryDelaware, Ohio, 128 km (80 mi). Friday Evening Programs 8-10 pm, $10 by phone (740-363-1257), talk plus telescope viewing
• Allegheny ObservatoryPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 138 km (85 mi). Free evening tours Fridays Apr-Oct and Thursdays May-Aug; reservations required

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Wilderness Center Astronomy ClubWilmot, Ohio, 0 km (0 mi). Meets Monthly, last Friday
• Astronomy Club of AkronAkron, Ohio, 37 km (23 mi). Meets 4th Friday monthly (Nov usually 3rd Friday; none Jun-Aug, Dec)
• Richland Astronomical SocietyBellville, Ohio, 75 km (46 mi). Meets Monthly meetings at Ontario library or Warren Rupp Observatory
• Cuyahoga Astronomical AssocNorth Olmsted, Ohio, 81 km (50 mi). Meets 2nd Monday monthly, 7:30-9 pm
• Mahoning Valley Astronomical SocietyNewton Falls, Ohio, 82 km (51 mi). Meets Last Saturday monthly: Apr-Oct 8 pm at the club observatory, Braceville; Nov-Mar 6 pm

Star parties near Wilderness Center 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.

Wilderness Center Observatory record

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