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Florida Atlantic University Astronomical Observatory
FAU Observatory

Welcome to the Observatory's Front Page. Included here are some of the latest news and articles that may be of interest to our visitors. 

FAU's Astronomical Observatory is housed under a four meter diameter dome on the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University.  We welcome students, faculty, staff and members of the general public to join our scheduled observations or our public viewing events.  Our telescope is mounted on a small platform, at the top of stairs, looking out of the roof of our building, over Boca Raton, to space and beyond!

News of FAU Observatory

Section updated: Dec. 3rd, 2024

Jupiter's Opposition to the Sun -- Dec. 6th, 2024

On the evening of Friday the 6th  of December, FAU's Astronomical Observatory will be celebrating Jupiter's Opposition to the Sun. This is a  FREE, public viewing, open dome event to come together and explore the king of the planets,  JUPITER.

Date: Friday Dec. 6th -
Saturday Dec. 7th 2024.

Image Courtesy of the Juno mission, NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image Courtesy of the Juno mission, NASA/JPL-Caltech
Time: 7:00 pm until 1:00 am.
Activities:

Presentations about Jupiter, its moons and Juno, the current planetary probe mission to Jupiter, the Europa Clipper, a newly launched planetary probe mission to Jupiter's moon of Europa, plus observations of the Jupiter system!

Details:  On Dec. 6th at 2003 EST, the Earth will have moved in its orbit to perfectly place the planet Jupiter at the sky's opposition to the Sun. This means the outer planet will appear to be in the directly opposite direction of the sky from as the Sun, hence the name of "opposition". This happens when the Earth gets directly in line between the outer planet and the Sun. Such perfect celestial alignments are called a syzygies. At that time, we will be only 4.089403336 au away from the planet and be as close as we can be to the planet for this orbital pass, which should provide us the best telescopic views of the planet for the year! Read more.