Nightlife: Public Open Night at BU’s Coit Observatory
Weekly event a free chance to view planets and stars
Guests at Coit Observatory’s weekly Public Open Night, every Wednesday, weather permitting, can look through telescopes pointed at Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and the Andromeda Galaxy. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi.
Looking for something different to do tonight? Think about heading over to BU’s Judson B. Coit Observatory on the roof of the College of Arts & Sciences. Each Wednesday night, weather permitting, the observatory opens its doors free of charge to the Boston community for Public Open Night, giving visitors a chance to view planets, stars, and the moon through three eight-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes.
We stopped by one chilly Wednesday evening to check it out and explore our astronomical passions. (Note: the telescopes are outside, so dress for the weather.) We had tried to reserve tickets—getting them in advance is recommended to guarantee admittance—but they were already sold out. We were advised to arrive 30 minutes before the doors opened to be at the front of the line for ticketless guests. The rooftop observatory has a capacity of 70, and there’s usually room for 20 without tickets, depending on available space.
In spite of having some difficulty finding the observatory—you walk or take an elevator to the CAS fifth floor and follow the sign in the hallway to the observatory entrance, next to Room 520—we were the only ones there when we arrived at 7 p.m. By about 20 minutes later, there were 15 people without tickets in line.
The door was opened promptly at 7:30 p.m. and about 25 guests with reserved tickets were allowed in. After waiting a few minutes for ticket-holding stragglers, the rest of us were admitted. Guests are urged to arrive early, since no one is admitted once the program begins.
From the fifth floor, we climbed two flights of stairs up to the rooftop (the observatory has no disabled access), where we gathered around three staffers as they explained the rules—no touching the telescopes and no flash photography—and what we could expect to see through each telescope. We were told that because the observatory doesn’t get a lot of immediate repeat visitors to Public Open Night and because of factors like weather and the Earth’s position, the same astronomical objects can be featured for as long as five months.
That night the telescopes were pointed towards Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in the solar system, the Orion Nebula, a cloud of gas and dust with a few stars and one of the brightest nebulae, and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), a spiral galaxy that contains one trillion stars and is 2.5 million light years from Earth.
Guests lined up around each telescope for a turn to gaze into the galaxy. Jupiter appeared as a large bright ball in the center of the lens; the Orion Nebula was a faint cluster of bright fuzzy blue dots; and the Andromeda Galaxy looked like a stretched-out cloud or cotton ball (we learned later that we were looking at the galactic center of the galaxy).
Although we felt like we’d spent more time waiting in line than looking through the telescopes, the informative hour-long event made for a fun and memorable evening. In addition to its view of the night sky, the rooftop affords a panoramic sweep of Cambridge, the Charles River, and downtown Boston. It’s a great event for families, a couple looking for a unique date, or anyone interested in a view of the heavens unavailable from your backyard.
The Coit Observatory is in the CAS building, 725 Commonwealth Ave., fifth floor, above the astronomy department; phone: 617-353-2630. The observatory hosts Public Open Night every Wednesday (weather permitting), from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. from October through March, and 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. from April through September. Space is limited, so reserve your free ticket in advance here. Call 617-353-2630 or check the observatory’s Twitter page each Wednesday to find out if Public Open Night is being held.
This is part of a weekly series featuring Boston nightlife spots of interest to the BU community. If you have any suggestions for places we should feature, leave them in the Comment section below.
Author, Jennifer Bates can be reached at jennb7@bu.edu