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 2003 Speaker schedule)

  • Friday, September 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Cole Miller on "Galaxies, Black Holes, and Gravitational Waves"

  • Saturday, September 20, 8:00pm, 9:00 pm CANCELED!
    (We will try to reschedule him in the spring!)
    Greg Redfern, SSA on "Rocks from Space!"

    2003 JPL Solar System Ambassador Greg Redfern has spent much of the year doing outreach programs on behalf of several NASA missions such as Stardust, Deep Impact and others. Tonight, he will be talking about his other hobby -- meteorites!

    Be sure to check out his most recent article "Own a Piece of the Sky" in the August 2003 issue of Sky and Telescope and his Astronomy Picture of the Day!



  • Sunday, October 5, 9:00 pm
    Stef McLaughlin on "Extrasolar Planets"

  • Monday, October 20, 8:00pm, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Ed Schmahl on "High Energy Events on the Sun -- Flare Movies from the RHESSI Satellite"

  • Wednesday, November 5, 8:00 pm
    Dr. Virginia Trimble on "Life in the Universe"

  • Thursday, November 20, 8:00 pm
    Ms. Lisa Mazzuca on "HST Recent Science Results"

  • Friday, December 5, 8:00 pm rescheduled to Jan 5 2004!!
    Dr. Tony Farnham on "Stardust"

  • Saturday, December 20, 8:00 pm
    Elizabeth Warner on "Observing in 2004"

Get a sneak peek at our Spring 2004 schedule!