8/14 OPEN HOUSE CANCELLED FOR WEATHER AND SKY CONDITIONS: As of 8/14, 12:30pm we regret to announce the cancellation of tonight's Open House. The latest predictions are for thunderstorms and cloudy skies, so not only could we not open the dome to operate the telescope, we also wouldn't be able to observe anything higher than the clouds if we were able to open the dome. Summer tours end after next weekend. Be sure to check Strasemburgh Planetarium and rochesterastronomy.org for fall opportunities for observing. It's a new year for free public summer tours at Mees Observatory, with several new options. We're offering Regular Tours (a presentation on astronomy geared to a general audience, followed by a tour of the observatory and (hopefully!) observing of several objects, which may include the Moon, planets, nebulae, star clusters and perhaps galaxies), and Kids' Tours (a more interactive presentation specially aimed at youngsters plus the observatory tour and observing) as in prior years. You can also sign up for a Full Moon Tour, with both presentation and observation focused on the Moon. Reservations are required for all these tours, which start at 8PM, and are limited to 8 people per request and 25 people in total. In June, we held first Open Houses - no reservations required - so visitors were able to just come and join us at the telescope. We hope to offer additional Open Houses later in the summer, so check back for updates on those.
The schedule of tours is shown below.
(Note that once a tour is at the limit of 25 reservations, further requests will be placed on a waitlist for that date, to be confirmed if enough cancellations occur.
See availability listed after each tour. For any tour with 10 or more on the waitlist, it is not likely that any new reservations can be confirmed. IMPORTANT NOTE: The numbers shown here are subject to change as additional reservation requests arrive and cancellations occur, and those changes are not immediately reflected on this page.
8/5 Status:Regular Tours:
August 8 (tour full, 12 on waitlist)
August 21 (tour full; 11 on waitlist)
8/5 Status: Kids' Tours:
August 7 (tour full; 12 on waitlist) and
August 22 (tour full; no waitlist)
NEW!! Open House August 14 8PM to 11PM: Observing only, no presentation; Check here on 8/14 for sky outlook and cancellation due to rain, if needed. (Reservations not required).
To make reservations for tours, email your request to tours director Carol Latta (cosmos@astro.pas.rochester.edu); including your full name, address, number of people in your group - maximum 8 (and group name if applicable), at least one phone number where we can reach you in the week preceding and day of the tour, any comments, and email address we should use to contact you (if it differs from the one you use to request your reservation). You will receive email confirmation back. MANY REQUESTS TO DATE HAVE ONLY INCLUDED A WORK PHONE NUMBER. YOUR REQUEST CANNOT BE PROCESSED WITHOUT A PHONE NUMBER AT WHICH YOU CAN BE REACHED ON THE DAY OF THE TOUR, IF NECESSARY. PLEASE INCLUDE A CELL PHONE NUMBER IF YOU HAVE ONE.
See the general information below about the tours. As always, we hope clear skies allow us to show you a number of astronomical objects, using the 24" reflecting telescope, at the conclusion of the tour.
We are able to host a small number of groups and a much greater number of families and individuals, so that this opportunity is offered as broadly as possible across the local community. Availability for groups larger than 8 are very limited, require special permission, and include a requirement to reconfirm the number attending one week prior to the tour.
General Information about tours:
University of Rochester Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to offer free tours for the public at Mees Observatory in the Bristol Hills on selected Friday and Saturday evenings during the summer months. Tours requiring reservations are held regardless of sky conditions, and begin at 8PM at Gannett House on the observatory grounds. After getting acquainted, we'll present a talk on astronomy in general and on what we may be observing later in the evening. If weather and skies permit, we'll proceed to the observatory dome and operate the 24" reflecting telescope for observing. Tours typically end around 11PM (if observing is possible) or whenever our guests have had their fill of photons.
Tour guides are physics/astronomy students and members of Rochester's astronomy club, the Astronomy Section of the Rochester Academy of Science.
For driving directions using Mapquest or a similar site, use this address: CE Kenneth Mees Observatory, 6604 S. Gannett Rd, Naples, NY 14512. Be aware of detours near Mees this summer which may increase your travel time.
There are many other opportunities to do astronomical observing in the Rochester area. Rochester's astronomy club, The Astronomy Section of the Rochester Academy of Science (ASRAS), offers free public star parties in all but the coldest months; these are usually held at Mendon and Northampton Parks. ASRAS members also operate the telescope at Strasenburgh Planetarium's observatory on nearly all clear Saturday evenings, year round. Monthly Open Houses at the Farash Center for Observational Astronomy in Ionia offer yet more opportunities for exploring the various observatories and looking through a variety of telescopes. Join us for any of these free events. To learn more about these and other opportunities, go to www.rochesterastronomy.org.
For more information, contact the Mees Observatory Tours Director, Carol Latta
at cosmos@astro.pas.rochester.edu or cell phone 585-230-9548.