SFA Observatory

You're invited to explore the autumn night sky with us at the SFA Observatory for our Public Night on Saturday, October 25, starting at 7:30 PM.

We will have several telescopes available for you to get an up-close look at the cosmos. The highlight of the evening will be a magnificent view of Saturn, where you'll be able to clearly see its beautiful rings.

Our guides will also host a laser-guided tour of the constellations and point our telescopes towards fascinating deep-sky objects. With the moon setting early, the sky will be dark and perfect for viewing distant wonders. Depending on conditions, we hope to show you:

*The Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the closest major galaxy to our own Milky Way, visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye and a grand spiral through a telescope.

*The Ring Nebula (M57), the ghostly, smoke-ring-like remnant of a star like our sun.

*The Pleiades Star Cluster (M45), also known as the Seven Sisters, a brilliant cluster of young, hot blue stars.

*The Double Cluster in Perseus, a stunning pair of open star clusters containing hundreds of stars.

This is a wonderful event for all ages and levels of experience.

Parking at the observatory is limited, so we do ask that you register in advance for a free ticket to help us manage attendance. Please reserve your spot at the Eventbrite link below:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sfa-observatory-public-night-october-2025-tickets-1788226546739
(Only one ticket is needed per vehicle!)

It looks like the skies will be too cloudy to see objects with a telescope on Saturday night at the SFA Observatory. However, we would like to invite you to the SFA Planetarium this Saturday. Check out our showtimes at https://www.planetarium.sfasu.edu and follow us on Facebook at SFASU Planetarium!

This printable fact sheet for the April 8th solar eclipse may be helpful to those wanting the best view of the eclipse. Teachers may also find this helpful for their classes.
Printable PDF: https://www.planetarium.sfasu.edu/docs/Solar-Eclipse-Fact-Sheet-2024.pdf?v=27