Goethe Link Observatory

Can you visit Goethe Link Observatory? Yes

Indiana Astronomical Society holds public sessions and monthly meetings at the observatory's 36-inch telescope; see IAS 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 Goethe Link Observatory

36-inch reflector, 10-inch astrograph.

How dark the sky is at Goethe Link Observatory

Goethe Link 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.

Goethe Link Observatory among the observatories of Indiana

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

The coordinates on this page point to zip 46151 (approximate): 39.478°N, 86.467°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 Goethe Link Observatory

Goethe Link Observatory is about 8 km (5 mi) from Ravinia State Forest, a Bortle Class 4 dark sky place. See Ravinia State Forest for camping, where to set up and the sky by season.

Nearest dark sky places

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Kirkwood ObservatoryBloomington, Indiana, 38 km (23 mi). Free open houses Wednesday evenings from spring break to Thanksgiving, weather permitting; no reservation
• McKim ObservatoryGreencastle, Indiana, 39 km (24 mi). Free astronomy open houses on about six Friday evenings each semester
• Holcomb Observatory and PlanetariumIndianapolis, Indiana, 46 km (29 mi). Weekend planetarium shows ($8 adults) with free telescope viewing after when clear; Holcomb 38-inch telescope under repair, portable scopes used
• Oakley ObservatoryTerre Haute, Indiana, 76 km (47 mi). Free public open houses about six times a year (e.g. Feb, May, Jul, Aug 2026); two flights of outdoor stairs
• John C. Hook Memorial ObservatoryTerre Haute, Indiana, 81 km (50 mi). Indiana State University campus observatory; public viewing events announced by ISU
• Prairie Grass ObservatoryFrankfort, Indiana, 92 km (57 mi). Free open houses about monthly Apr-Oct after sunset; public nights during the Indiana Family Star Party in August

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Indiana Astronomical SocietyMooresville, Indiana, 15 km (10 mi). Meets Saturday nights at Goethe Link Observatory or Mooresville Public Library
• Rose-Hulman Astronomical SocietyTerre Haute, Indiana, 76 km (47 mi)
• Wabash Valley Astronomical SocietyWest Lafayette, Indiana, 114 km (71 mi). Meets Monthly open meetings, usually Saturday 7 pm
• Muncie Astronomy ClubMuncie, Indiana, 124 km (77 mi). Meets Monthly meetings at Minnetrista Museum and Gardens, 1200 N Minnetrista Pkwy

Star parties near Goethe Link Observatory

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Indiana 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.

Goethe Link Observatory record

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