Seeing Stars

How to see the night sky up close and year 'round

ut aside your earthly pursuits midweek and find the hidden staircase from the fifth floor to the roof of Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences building, where you can contemplate the heavens from the Judson B. Coit Observatory during public viewings Wednesday nights. The universe will open up before you through the observatory’s two telescopes and with the help of guides from the astronomy department. Unlike other observatories open to the public, BU’s is open year ‘round, offering breathtaking vistas of the night sky you wouldn’t expect in the middle of a city. Jacobson

Shhhh! BU also has a collaboration with
the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona,
which has a 72-inch telescope
and other measurement instruments.

Shhhh! BU’s is one of the largest astronomy degree programs in the country. It was established by Judson B. Coit, a BU math professor for whom the observatory is named, who took his students to look at the stars through a public pay telescope on Boston Common.

Shhhh! To see a forecast (produced in
Canada) of when the skies over Boston will be best
for astronomical observing, click here.

Shhh who knew

The first American to receive a doctorate in astronomy was Boston-born Benjamin Apthorp Gould, the son of a 19th-century headmaster of Boston Latin School, who developed the means of determining longitude by telegraph. A feature of the Milky Way and a crater on the moon are named for him.