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 2008 Speaker schedule)

  • Friday, September 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Massimo Ricotti on "Primordial Black Holes"
    MC: Mike Gill

  • Saturday, September 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Derek Richardson on "Spinning Up Asteroids"
    MC: Jamie Cohen

  • Sunday, October 5, 9:00 pm
    Stacy Teng on "Astronomical Discoveries from Your Living Room"
    MC: Hannah Krug
    websites mentioned in the talk:

  • Monday, October 20, 9:00 pm
    Eric Winter on "The Fermi Space Telescope - A New Gamma-Ray Eye in the Sky"
    MC: Edmund Hodges-Kluck

  • Wednesday, November 5, 8:00 pm
    Elizabeth Warner on "Let's Go Sloohing!"
    MC: Ashley Zauderer

  • Thursday, November 20, 8:00 pm
    Paul Hueper on "Finding New Worlds: NASA's Search for Exoplanets"
    MC: Eric Winter

  • Friday, December 5, 8:00 pm
    Dr. Cole Miller on "Where Else in our Solar System Might There Be Life?"
    MC: Kári Helgason

  • Saturday, December 20, 8:00 pm
    Dr. Alberto Bolatto on "What is the Universe made of?"
    MC: Alex McCormick

Get a sneak peek at our Spring 2009 schedule!