The Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park hosts Open Houses at the UMD Observatory on the 5th and the 20th of every month. On Open House evenings a guest speaker will give approximately a half hour talk about a topic in astronomy. The talk is followed by viewing of celestial objects through the observatory's telescopes, weather permitting. If weather does not permit viewing, the talk will still go on as scheduled.

Upcoming Speakers

(download a copy of the Fall 2016 Speaker schedule)

  • Mon, September 5, 9:00 pm
    Mahmuda Afrin Badhan on "Pale Blue Dots Around Pale Red Dots: The Recent Discovery of the First Exoplanet Around Our Nearest Star's Habitable Zone"
    MC: Drew Hogg

  • Tue, September 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Cole Miller on "The Era of Gravitational Waves"
    MC: Corbin Taylor

  • Wed, October 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr D. Bodewits & Dr L. Feaga on "The End of Rosetta"
    MC: Tiara Hung

  • Thu, October 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Ke Fang on "The Most Energetic Particles in the Universe"
    MC: Qian Wang

  • Sat, November 5, 8:00 pm
    Dr. Marilia Samara on "Shooting Rockets at the Aurora"
    MC: Sara Frederick

  • Sun, November 20, 8:00 pm
    Dr. Tim Livengood on "Mars: Why is there air?"
    MC: Kyle Sheppard

  • Mon, December 5, 8:00 pm
    ASTR 310 Student Research
    MC: Pradip Gatkine

  • Tue, December 20, 8:00 pm
    Dr. Jane Dai on "Tidal Disruption Events: How is a star eaten by a hungry black hole?"
    MC: Scott Lawrence

Get a sneak peek at our Spring 2017 schedule!