Get back outdoors and point your gaze toward the heavens
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, the astronomy naturalists are glad to help, and will continue their special program offerings as the weather breaks into lovely spring.
Each Friday and Saturday night Observatory Park buildings will be open from 6 – 10 p.m. (November – February) and 6 – 11 p.m. (March – October) and staffed with an “astro-nat” for self-guided night sky viewing as weather permits.
Each Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., enjoy building open houses of the Robert McCullough Science Center and the Oberle Observatory to view the meteorite display (featuring a real meteorite you can touch!) and huge Oberle reflecting telescope. These hours also include The Sky Tonight Planetarium Show Sundays at 2 p.m., offering a naturalist-hosted preview of what’s happening in the sky.
More structured programming is available for visitors of all ages and interest groups, as well.
Upcoming and Ongoing Programs
A Solar Day / Summer Solstice Open House will usher in the longest day of the year with some fun solar experiments and sun viewing using special telescopes on Friday, June 21, from 3 to 9 p.m.
Biweekly Friday programs include:
- Humans in Space on April 12 and 26 from 7 to 8 p.m.
- The Search for E.T. on May 10 and 24 from 7 to 9 p.m.
- Radio Astronomy: The Listener’s Guide on June 14 and 28 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Programs to study the full moons are scheduled for:
- Thursday, April 25 (the Pink Moon), from 8 to 10 p.m.
- Saturday, May 25 (the Flower Moon), from 9 to 10 p.m.
- Sunday, June 23 (the Strawberry Moon) from 8:30 to 10 p.m.
Registration programs include:
- UFOs in Ohio, which will welcome Thomas Wertman, chief field investigator for the Mutual UFO Network, on Friday, April 19, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wertman will discuss notable sightings and reveal techniques used to investigate them, either to debunk them or consider them unidentified.
- Artists at heart ages 10 and up may register for the Celestial Paper Casting Art Workshop on Wednesday, June 19, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., to create a celestial-themed casting with handmade paper pulp, finished with an 8×10-inch mat, and enjoy a planetarium show. A $15 fee covers materials and instruction.
- Parents may also register their kiddos ages 3 to 5 for Timbertots: What’s the Weather? on Friday, April 19, from 10 to 11 a.m. or 1 to 2 p.m., or Saturday, April 20, from 10 to 11 a.m.
- Finally, April is also a month that features an Observatory Park program for active seniors with EZ Go Cart Tours at Observatory Park on Sunday, June 23, from 1 to 4 p.m. Register for your tour today at 440-286-9516.
Only cart tours, the UFO program, the art workshop and the Timbertots program require registration; all others are free to attend and are wheelchair/stroller accessible without registration. For details on these and other Geauga Park District programs, visit us online and click Find a Program.
Geauga Park District is online, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
