Goodsell Observatory Open House is Aug. 2

Goodsell Observatory open houses are the first Friday of each month on the campus of Carleton College.

Dress warmly, as the domes are not heated. The open house is canceled if skies are cloudy.

The August open house is planned for 9:30-11:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2.

Click here for a schedule of upcoming open houses. September's event is planned for 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6.

Here is information about the observatory from the Carleton College website:

Goodsell Observatory is located at 93° 09' 07.9" W and 44° 27' 42.4" N, altitude 290 m, on the campus of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.  The building, built in the late 1890s, houses three historic telescopes.  In the larger dome there is a 16.2-inch John Brashear refractor, and in the smaller dome there is an 8 ¼-inch Alvan Clark and Sons refractor.  Downstairs resides a transit telescope originally used to help set the time in the midwest.  All three telescopes are over one hundred and ten years old, and both the 8" and the 16" telescopes are regularly used for open houses.

Goodsell is also equipped with modern telescopes - 8-inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain LX200s - used for classes and open houses.   These telescopes are set up when needed on permanent piers, equiped with electricity and ethernet, located on the east lawn of the observatory.  Also available for use are six SBIG ST-2000XM CCD cameras with CFW-8 filter wheels.  These are used outside with the portable scopes or with either of the permanent scopes, and are supported by six iMac computers on moveable carts.

With this equipment and classes which allow students to gain experience in using them Carleton College remains a pioneer in undergraduate astronomical studies.