Well, it looks like we’ll not be opening our Public Nights season this month after all.
Outside of the usual concerns over wet and cloudy weather, and issues with our old building, now we have public health matters to take into consideration.
While the observatory is pretty much open to outside air when in use, people are quite close together under the dome — closer than public health experts recommend.
We’d rather everyone enjoy the night sky in good health and not have Stephens become a place where illness is spread; so we will watch and wait for resolution of the pandemic COVID-19 disease. When gatherings again make sense, we’ll announce and commence our season of Public Nights.
Until then, we’ll point out opportunities for home stargazing when clear nights occur and most of those suggestions come via our Twitter feed. You don’t need to have a Twitter account to see what’s going on, simple visit: https://twitter.com/StephensObs
Through this all, we’ll fall back on the wisdom of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy upon which is written in large, friendly letters, “Don’t Panic”. No need to hoard toilet paper or bottled water. Just be smart about what you do to protect your health and the well-being of others. There’s plenty of good information available online if you choose wisely.
Here are a few good resources:
Stephens Memorial Observatory 