For casual visitors, Observatory Park is open daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. at 10610 Clay Street in Montville Township. For those wanting a more guided experience, however, Naturalist (“Astro-Nat”) Chris Mentrek is eager to show you around this International Dark Sky Park.
Park buildings are open the second and fourth weekends of each month: Friday and Saturday for self-guided night sky viewing with Park District telescopes from 6 to 11 p.m., as well as Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., including The Sky Tonight Planetarium Show at 2 p.m. to tell you “what’s up” in the night sky.
Planetarium shows this season fall on Jan. 24, Feb. 14 and 28, and March 13.
More structured programming is also available for visitors of all ages and interest groups.
Biweekly Friday programs from 7 to 8 p.m. include Living on Mars (featuring plans for colonizing the red planet) on Jan. 22; A Tour of the Orion Nebula (featuring an in-depth tour of this enormous wonder of the night sky) on Feb. 12 and 26; and Searching for Killer Asteroids (featuring scientists’ method for scanning the skies and how you can contribute) on March 11 and 25.
Special programs to study the season’s full moons are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. (almost full); and Wednesday, March 23, from 8 to 9 p.m. (The Worm Moon).
Do you have a telescope that’s just gathering dust someplace? Bring In Your Telescope on Saturday, Feb. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m.! We will be delighted to help you get the most enjoyable astronomy experience out of your equipment and offer a few maintenance tips. Don’t own a telescope? No problem. We’ll gladly help you “try before you buy” and get answers for all those hard-to-Google questions.
And finally, take in the wonders of the universe using Observatory Park telescopes during special Night Sky Viewing hours: Saturdays from 7 to 11 p.m. on Jan. 23, Feb. 13 and 27, and March 12 and 26.
All Observatory Park programs this season are free to attend without registration and wheelchair/stroller accessible. Learn more about Observatory Park. For details on these and other parks’ programming this winter, visit the GPD website and click Find a Program.
This article is brought to you by Geauga Park District
