Public Nights: First Night in Current Series

The present "Friday Evenings at the Observatory" public night series first began on November 1, 1985 after the Department of Astronomy completed renovating the old Teaching Observatory. Previously the Teaching Observatory had been occasionally open to the public for special events. Also, for a few years, the department ran public night during the 1970's. The current public night series has now become a continuing public program at the Teaching Observatory since the end of 1985.

The announcement for this series read:

"On Friday evening, November 1, 1985, the Department of Astronomy will initiate a public evening program at its Teaching Observatory and will continue such programs on all following Friday evenings when the University is in session. These evening events will permit visitors to view celestial objects through the Observatory's two principle telescopes: an 8-inch (20 cm) aperture Clark Refractor and a 12-1/2 inch aperture (32 cm) Cassegrain Reflector."

(From a memo by Howard L. Cohen, October 18, 1985)

And The Gainesville Sun wrote (excerpt form article by John Wood, October 24, 1985, pg. 1A)

The public will get to see the stars in a new program at the University of Florida Department of Astronomy. Starting Nov.1, the astronomy department will hold informal star viewing classes at the UF Astronomy teaching Observatory.

Open to the public and free of charge, the program enable people to focus on Halley's Comet , peer at Jupiter and gaze at lunar landscapes.

"We'll be looking at whatever's up (in the sky) that looks decent through the telescope," said doctoral student Billy Cooke, who will run the 'Friday Evenings at the Observatory' program.

Program supervisor and UF astronomer Howard Cohen said this is the first ongoing public program in astronomy (at the observatory) offered by the university.

The starry-night programs will allow visitors to view the skies through the observatory's two main telescopes—an eight-inch antique Clark refractor and a 12-1/2 inch Cassegrain reflector.

Cook and assistants will hold the programs on clear Friday nights from 8:30 to 10 at the Astronomy Teaching Observatory. The observatory is on campus, south of the Reitz Union driveway and west of the Engineering Sciences Center.

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Following the wishes of this memo, the Department of Astronomy has continued this program ever since this first event.

For more information, see The History of the Teaching Observatory.

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