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 Summer 2015 Speaker schedule)

  • Tuesday, May 5, 9:00 pm
    A315 students on "Asteroid Rotation Period Results from ASTR 315 Student Research"
    MC: Taro Shimizu

  • Wednesday, May 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Lan Jian on "STEREO Mission"
    MC: Dana Louie

  • Friday, June 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Haihong Che on "Solar Wind"
    MC: Corbin Taylor

  • Saturday, June 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Alan Peel on "Do we really only understand 4% of the Universe?"
    MC: Myra Stone

  • Sunday, July 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Eleonora Troja on "Cosmic Crashes: the Many Facets of Neutron Star Collisions"
    MC: Jamie Cohen

  • Monday, July 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Laura Blecha on "Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Frenemies Forever"
    MC: Johnny VanLandingham

  • Wednesday, August 5, 9:00 pm
    Alice Allen on "Behind and Beyond APOD"
    MC: John Capone

  • Thursday, August 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Mike Kelley on "Water, Carbon Dioxide, and Comets"
    MC: Tingting Liu