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!
Section updated: June 30th, 2025
Every month of the year, we move about 30° forward in our orbit about the Sun, and stars that once rose at midnight do so 2 hours earlier the next month. For the early night hours of this month, we will see the ecliptic crosses the equator near Virgo’s outreached left hand of Zavijava, and dives down below her toward Libra and Scorpio. It is along the ecliptic that we look for the planets, but most of them only appear near sunrise this month. Mars will struggle to stay ahead of the approaching Sun all month long as it will appear to be smaller, dimmer and further away from us. Our Milky Way galaxy will be seen emerging from the southeastern horizon. The stars in our spring sky still appear high above and are rather sparce, as our overhead views look out “above our galaxy’s main plane” to those galaxies beyond.
We will open for the 1st Night Public Viewing session this July on Thursday the 3rd to accommodate everyone’s festivities for Aphelion Day on the 4th. Aphelion is the furthest position the Earth achieves in its orbit around the Sun. It is moving at its slowest speed then. After that day, the Earth begins its orbital fall back toward the Sun, moving a bit faster and faster until it reaches perihelion on ~ Jan. 4th, when it is the closest it can be to the Sun. This speed difference is why the northern winter is the shortest season of the year, while its summer is the longest. The orbital positions are very much like a child’s swing. At the top of the arc, the swing is furthest away from the ground, and it moves the slowest then. At the bottom of the swing, it is closest and moves the fastest. Now imagine that the swing goes completely around its horizontal support bar and that its attractive source is inside the loop, between the bar and the perihelion position.
And apparently, there is to be a birthday celebration on that same day of the 4th, too. I hope everyone enjoys it.
