Stargazing at John Glenn Astronomy Park

September 26, 2025 through November 08, 2025

Outdoor

The John Glenn astronomy Park (JGAP) is open at all times for people to enjoy views of sky, day or night. Just drive up!

On clear Friday and Saturday nights, from March through November, we do “guided stargazing” programs starting a half-hour after sunset. These involve a laser-guided “tour” of the constellations and features of the sky. We will show you the constellations and other features of the sky. Due to the popularity and nature of our telescope viewing programs, which put hundreds of people a night in close proximity to our volunteers, please be considerate of our volunteers and others by not “crowding.”

On many nights Astro-imagers on site will frequently share live views of celestial objects on their computer screens.
Because our parking space is limited, we require visitors to secure a free parking pass for the early evening hours.
Get one at: registration.jgap.org

Because our programs are about the stars, they are dependent on weather. They will be called off on rainy or cloudy
evenings. Please check the hour-by-hour weather forecast before setting out.
We post notice of whether or not an evening’s program will go forward on our website, JGAP.org, and our Facebook
Page “John Glenn Astronomy Park”, by noon on the same day as the program.

2025

September 19-20: The Little Constellations: Between the more well known star patterns are many diminutive
constellations: A wolf, a Dolphin, a small horse, and an errant arrow. On this dark sky weekend, we’ll be exploring some of the gems they contain. 7:30 PM

September 26-27: Two celestial birds. The constellations Cygnus (The Swan) and Aquilla (The Eagle) fly along the Milky Way and are filled with celestial gems visible through the telescope. Also, the crescent moon is low in the southwest and Saturn is visible. 7:15 PM

October 3-4: Scientists and Philosophers on the Moon. Most of the craters on the moon are named for natural
philosophers and scientists. Come learn about a few of them and then look at the craters that bear their names. Saturn can be seen nearby. 7:00 PM

October 10-11: The Great Andromeda Galaxy. The most distant object able to be seen with the naked eye is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Through a telescope, it appears as a wispy, lens-shaped, blur. Saturn is at its best now. 7:00 PM

October 17-18: The Fall Milky Way. The Milky Way is again at its best this week. It stretches all the way from the teapot shape of Sagittarius to Perseus. Come explore some of its gems. 6:45 PM

October 24-25: Earthshine. We’ll be starting a little early these two evenings to catch the lovely glow of Earthshine, the reflection of light off of the earth onto the surface of the moon. After that, we’ll turn our scopes to some of the objects along the lovely fall Milky Way. Saturn looks great, too. 6:30 PM.

October 31-November 1: Spooky Skies. Dragons, scorpions, skulls, murder and mayhem. Come hear about some of the spooky stuff different cultures have memorialized in nebulae shapes and star patterns of the heavens. Then we’ll be looking at the bright moon and Saturn. 6:30 PM

November 7-8: Pale Blue Dot. We will be gazing at Saturn and imaging what our world would look like from its vantage point, and beyond. The bright moon rises keeping us from having fully dark skies. 5:30 PM