The Richard D. Schwartz Observatory at UMSL

The Richard D. Schwartz Observatory at UMSL The Richard D. Schwartz Observatory at UMSL is dedicated to providing the public with educational as Louis area.

The Schwartz Observatory provides monthly public Open House astronomical observing nights spring through winter. Arrangements can be made for group functions via the link below. Our website also contains information regarding scheduled events, directions to the Observatory, and contact information. The Observatory occasionally opens for special phenomena, such as comets or transits. These rare events will be posted on this page, and on other social media in the St.

03/07/2025

Hello All! This is a friendly reminder that tomorrow, March 8th, is our first open house of the year! The event begins at 6:30 PM. The forecast is looking promising! Looking forward to seeing returning and new attendees tomorrow night!

Hello all! Apologies for the slight delay. Here is the open house schedule for 2025!
01/16/2025

Hello all! Apologies for the slight delay. Here is the open house schedule for 2025!

10/25/2024

Hello everyone. Well, it wouldn't be St.Louis if the weather didn't try to stick a wrench in observing plans. Please take a look at the forcast for tonight and come to the open house tonight at your own discretion. The event will still happen from 7 to 9PM, regardless of forecast. Feel free to come if you have questions, or if this is your first time, etc. There is always a chance it clears out well, but that is up to the discretion of the attendees.

10/25/2024

Hello everyone! Just a quick update and a few reminders.
Weather says the cloud cover will be around 40% at 7PM, but by 9PM it will be around 20%, and from the looks of the radar the sky might clear up before then. 40% cloud cover is nothing to worry about, let alone 20%.
I'm not sure how many people will be attending tonight, but I am really hoping, fingers crossed and praying, to get at least 100 people or more. The St.Louis Astronomical Society shared my post earlier this week, so that should, hopefully, boost our attendance.
For everyone attending, I will have a tally sheet that I would like all who attend to write on. All I ask is you put your name, and where you heard about this event. Be as specific or general as you want.
For people bringing telescopes, I would recommend you arrive around 6:30 if possible if you need help setting up, as I will be pretty busy after 7PM with attendees. You are completely ok with either using your telescope by yourself or allowing others to see through them, I just ask if you plan to use it by yourself that you set it up a few feet from the walkway, to help with foot traffic and such.
I can't think of anything else at the moment, so if you have any questions feel free to comment on this post and I will respond shortly. 100+ people is a far cry from the normal attendance amount for our regular open houses, and is well beyond what this observation area can handle, so I'm keeping my expectations in check, but I also want to far exceed that limit, and I want to prepare for more than that just in case.
Look forward to seeing who comes by!

10/22/2024

Hello all! This is a bit of an impromptu announcement, but we will be having an last minute open house this upcoming Friday night to see comet A3. It's higher in the night sky than I originally thought, so finding it will not be too difficult to do! The event will run from 7PM to 9PM at the observatory. Please bring lawn chairs as it will be possible to see the comet through binoculars and dimly with the naked eye. Hope to see people there!

09/20/2024

Hey all, I was originally planning to hold a open house this Saturday since last weekend it was too cloudy. Unfortunately it looks like there will be rain all tomorrow evening and night. I will keep an eye on the forecast, but if tomorrow doesn't work out, we will try again next weekend. Cheers!

08/10/2024

Hello all! Sorry for the last minute post. Tonight is open house at 8:30PM! Weather looks very promising at 8. Hope to see some folks there!

07/13/2024

Hello everyone! Tonight is open house! Weather forecast currently shows clear skies after 7PM, so we should be good to go! We start at 9PM tonight. Hope to see some folks there!

06/15/2024

Hello everyone! Just a reminder that we have open house tonight! The local weather says cloud cover will be around 20% when the event starts, so we should see some good stuff tonight! See you there!

05/11/2024

Hello! Just a reminder that open house is tonight! In addition, if you were not aware, the northern lights were spotted in St.Louis last night, and will very likely be visible tonight as well. Good chance of seeing them at the open house tonight around 9PM if anyone is interested!

05/09/2024

Hello everyone! Hope y'all have been safe with this weather the past few days. The forecast for Saturday night looks excellent, so the open house is on! Hope to see lots of people there. Please refer to the previously posted schedule for what we will be looking at. Any questions, feel free to message!

04/20/2024

Hello everyone. We are having open house tonight to make up for my mistake last saturday. Clould cover predicts 36%, which should be ok for observing. The list of objects from last saturday are what we will be observing tonight. Hope to see people there!

Address

7701 Florissant Road
St. Louis, MO
63121

Telephone

+13145165706

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