The Richard D. Schwartz Observatory at UMSL

Hello everyone! Just a reminder that we have open house tonight! The local weather says cloud cover will be around 20% when the event starts, so we should see some good stuff tonight! See you there!

Hello! Just a reminder that open house is tonight! In addition, if you were not aware, the northern lights were spotted in St.Louis last night, and will very likely be visible tonight as well. Good chance of seeing them at the open house tonight around 9PM if anyone is interested!

Hello everyone! Hope y'all have been safe with this weather the past few days. The forecast for Saturday night looks excellent, so the open house is on! Hope to see lots of people there. Please refer to the previously posted schedule for what we will be looking at. Any questions, feel free to message!

Hello everyone. We are having open house tonight to make up for my mistake last saturday. Clould cover predicts 36%, which should be ok for observing. The list of objects from last saturday are what we will be observing tonight. Hope to see people there!

Hi everyone. I completely forgot that we had an open house tonight. Completely my fault. We will move the open house scheduled for April 13th to April 20th. I apologize to everyone who came tonight.

If you can make it to the path of totality for Monday's total solar eclipse, see if you can spot comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, one of the objects studied by astronomers and students at UMSL with the NASA Infrared Teelscope Facility at Maunakea Observatories!

Hello! Sorry for the late update. Umm, looks like overcast tonight with a chance of rain. I will post again at 4PM with a final decision, but I would strongly recommend assuming tonight will not happen. Obviously I cannot control the weather, but I do apologize for letting everyone down this month. Next month will hopefully be better.

Hello! So uh it's pretty overcast. I think it's fair to say that we won't be able to see anything tonight, so let's hold off, again. With that being said, I want to know if we want to try next weekend? Or wait until next month's open house. Please let me know in the comments below what you would prefer, so I can get a general idea.

Hello! So tonight is open house! We rescheduled from last Saturday to tonight due to weather. Hopefully the weather cooperates with us tonight. 7:30 is our start time. See you there!

Hello everyone. If you have been keeping up with the weather, it's pretty cloudy here at the observatory, and it's only going to get cloudier as the night goes on. With that said, I don't want to waste anyone's time, so we will postpone the open house to next Saturday, the 23rd, with the hopes of clear weather.

Hello everyone! Tomorrow night is the first open house of the year! Please see the list for what we will be seeing tomorrow night. The weather says few clouds, so it should be a good night! See you all there!

Hello Everyone! Here is the new 2024 schedule for open houses at the observatory. One of the followers kindly informed me that the dates were not correct, so they have been corrected! Apologies for the confusion.

Hello everyone! Bit of a last minute announcement. The Geminid meteor shower is tonight from 9 to 10 PM! The observatory will be open to those who want to come by and watch the shower! Completely slipped my mind! Please dress for the cold, as it will be very chilly. Hope to see some people there!

Hey everyone! Just a friendly reminder that tonight is another open house! We will be seeing BOTH jupiter and Saturn, as well as the pleiades star cluster, and HOPEFULLY the heart nebula! Can't wait to see people there!

Hello everyone! Bit of a last minute sorta deal, but I will be at the observatory tonight, hopefully to take photos of some deep sky objects, maybe saturn, as well as the moon! Normally I do these by myself, but during the last open house some people expressed interest in this, so I figured I'd let everyone know! I will be starting at 7:30, so if this sounds interesting to you, please feel free to stop by! I should note there will be minimal viewing, as I will spend most of the time taking photos.

Hello again all! You all know the saying in St.Louis. "if you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes". We went from 10% predicted cloud cover to ~40% cloud cover. That doesn't mean we won't see anything, the moon and MAYBE Saturn will be visible, but I have low hopes for anything else in the sky. The open house is still on

Hello everyone! Tonight is looking promising! Forecast calls for 10% cloud cover, which is very different from the forecast earlier this week calling for storms during open house! I plan to be out early to prepare everything so you guys don't have to spend your time watching me set up. Really hoping we get a chance to see the rings of Saturn tonight! See everyone there!

Hi all! Uhh, looking at the forecast its supposed to rain most of today at the observatory. However! I will still be there during the scheduled open house hours. If you would like to stop by to learn more about what we do at the observatory, learn about our physics program at UMSL, or if your kids have astronomy related questions or just want to learn about the stars, please do come by! I would be happy to answer any and all questions you might have! I also have some cool pictures that have been taken at the observatory if anyone is interested in looking!

Update: its roughly 30 min til start time, and the sky is almost completely clear. Knock on wood it stays this way. For everyone who's come to the last few events and not seen much, tonight is definitely one you do not want to miss.

Hello everyone! Tonight is looking slightly better, with a 50% cloud cover. Hopefully we will be able to see at least some clusters. The open house is still on!

Hi all! Tonight is AGAIN looking iffy, with forecast saying roughly 50% cloud cover and rain after 11PM. I will still be at the observatory at 9, and worst case scenario I will answer questions people have while we wait for a break in the clouds to do some observing! If you have astronomy questions, or would like to know more about what we do at UMSL regarding Astronomy, please feel free to come by and chat! I wish I could do more, but unfortunately the weather completely decided whether or not we observe.

Hello all! Sorry for the lack of updates! Now that school is out I've been busy as of late. We are on for tonight. Cloud cover is predicted to be 50%, so Im hoping that goes down. Someone asked about the new supernova that showed up recently. Unfortunately, St.Louis has lots of light pollution, so I wouldn't count on being able to see it, but I will try my best. Hope to see lots of people there!

Hey all! Weather looks alright for tomorrow night! Forecast says a few clouds, so deep sky objects may be difficult, but the moon and planets should be good! Sorry for the late update. Hope to see everyone then!

Hello all! The forecast for this saturday looks relatively clear, so we should be good to go! The only worry, if any, is whether or not the storms that are supposed to hit on friday pose any problems for saturday night. Will post again, probably wednesday or thursday, with an update! Appreciate everyone who shows up, this wouldn't be possible without you!

WOOOOOOOO!!!!! I completely forgot to post the schedule for the Richard D. Schwartz open houses for this year. The first open house is March 25th at 8PM. Please come out and see the stars with us! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to send us a message! I will try to respond within 24 hours.

Check out the St. Louis Astronomical Society for more public viewings year round.

Turkey sighting at the observatory!

Good news! We are going to host a public open house on Tuesday, Nov. 1st, beginning at 6:30pm to make up for weather cancellation of last night's event. Hope to see you all there for the final event of this year!

In an effort to get ome last open house in this year, Tuesday, Nov 1st is the next availability. Would anyone be interested in attending?

Unfortunately, the public open house for this evening is cancelled due to overcast. This was the last scheduled event for this year. Have a great rest of the year! Stay safe. We look forward to seeing you all next year!