Since our capacity is limited, to attend you must reserve a ticket online.
Our open houses have two formats:
- Roughly every other weekend on the first clear evening of Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
- Some Monday evenings, when we don't have a Group Tour booked. These events go ahead regardless of the weather.
All upcoming events of all types are listed on our Upcoming Events page where one can reserve tickets. Below is information about each type of event:
Weekend Open Houses
When
Free Public Open Houses are scheduled on about one weekend each month. On the scheduled weekend, the open house will take place on the first clear evening of Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. At the times of year when it gets dark early enough, we may schedule two events per evening - refer to the schedule.
Where
Meet in the lobby (next to the residence desk and the Art Gallery) of the Loyola Residence Building. A campus map is here. The Loyola Residence is marked LR on the map. Here is also a link to a Google Map.
Due to construction in the Loyola Residence, we will gather on the first floor of the Loyola Academic building near the RBC ATM. This building is marked LA in the campus map.
If you are late you may miss out — we have to escort you through a secure access door to reach the observatory.
What
They generally last one to two hours and involve looking at various astronomical objects through the telescope and discussing the nature of these objects.
We may also use a fenced-in Observation Deck on the roof of the building to show you the constellations or objects in one of our smaller portable telescopes.
These events are suitable for about ages 8 and up.
Monday Open Houses
When
Free Public Open Houses are scheduled on some Monday evenings, when we don't have a Group Tour booked. These events go ahead regardless of the weather. In fairness to others, if you plan to not attend if the weather is poor, don't reserve a ticket - attend a Weekend Open House instead.
Where
Meet in the lobby (next to the residence desk and the Art Gallery) of the Loyola Residence Building. A campus map is here. The Loyola Residence is marked LR on the map. Here is also a link to a Google Map.
Due to construction in the Loyola Residence, we will gather on the first floor of the Loyola Academic building near the RBC ATM. This building is marked LA in the campus map.
If you are late you may miss out — we have to escort you to a classroom for the first part of the event, then later through a secure access door to reach the observatory.
What
They generally last about 90 minutes and start in a classroom with a ~45 minute presentation about astronomy (usually a Tour of the Universe or another topic of current interest) followed by a visit to the observatory. If the skies are clear, we will look at various astronomical objects through our big telescope and discuss the nature of these objects. These events are suitable for ages 12 and up.