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!
Updated: Feb. 25th, 2025.
There are a variety of events coming up for the month of March.
Aria Rudnick, I am very glad to be a source of inspiration to you with your frequent visits to our Observation sessions and thank you for mentioning the FAU Astronomical Observatory in your TEDx talk about your passion and quest to unite the arts with science! I also feel that people can learn science better when presented in a story-like setting, especially when it includes its historical background. To learn more about Aria’s vision and hear her talk, use this link:
The Stage Is My Lab: Using Theatre To Share True Science | Aria Rudnick | TEDxNBPS Youth
When we look up in the winter night sky, we are looking at the outer Milky Way Galaxy. So, it is chock full of interesting things to see, such as the distant "intergalactic wandering" globular cluster (NGC 2419), the " UFO Galaxy " (NGC 2683), Castor (a triple binary star system) and Pollux (the closest red giant star to us), the " Eskimo Nebula " (NGC 2392), " Cluster 37 " (NGC 2169), the complex Xmas Tree OC & Cone Nebula (NGC 2264), the open cluster NGC 2244 seen through the Rosette Nebula, Orion's Running Man (NGC 1977) and Great Nebulae (M42), the triple dividing open cluster M48 , the " Spirograph Nebula " (IC418), Messier's Lost Cluster (M47), Caroline's Cluster (NGC 2360), the Butterfly Cluster (M93), the Tau Canis Major Cluster (NGC 2362), the syzygy of the 2 open clusters in NGC 2451 , and one of the best open clusters in the sky: NGC 2477 .
Of our solar system, our Moon will be in a waxing gibbous phase between the constellations of Gemini and Auriga . We will look for the Elysium & Utopia Planitia to the Syrtis Major Planum of Mars , which are locations of active exploration by NASA’s rovers. Jupiter and Uranus and their moons will appear in Taurus .
Note: Daylight Shifty Time begins on March 9th. So, what was 7 pm the prior week now shifts to 8 pm.
