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 2016 Speaker schedule)

  • Thursday, May 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Brian Hicks on "The Challenges of Directly Imaging Earth-like Exoplanets Around Nearby Stars"
    MC: Vicki Toy

  • Friday, May 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Alan Peel on "Do we really only understand 4% of the Universe?"
    MC: Scott Lawrence

  • Sunday, June 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Erin Kara on "?Blackholes?"
    MC: Jonathan Nikoleyczik

  • Monday, June 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Prabal Saxena on "The Early Moon as an Exoplanet"
    MC: Thomas Rimlinger

  • Tuesday, July 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Karen Yang on "What are Fermi bubbles?"
    MC: Ron Ballouz

  • Wednesday, July 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Francesco Tombesi on "Can Supermassive Black Holes Influence the Evolution of Entire Galaxies?"
    MC: Arnab Dhabal

  • Friday, August 5, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Brad Cenko on "Gamma-Ray Bursts: Nature's Most Remarkable Explosions"
    MC: Johnny VanLandingham

  • Saturday, August 20, 9:00 pm
    Dr. Brian Morsony on "The Turbulent Life of Galaxy Clusters"
    MC: Myra Stone