Perkins Observatory — Attraction in Delaware

The Friday night program is good. If the weather is clear, there will be several telescopes set up outdoors for observation of planets and interesting stars. Similarly, you may get to use the giant telescope in the observatory.

I don't know what they do if it's overcast or raining, but we were able to see Jupiter with two of it's moons, the rings of Saturn, and a nifty little blue and gold binary star constellation in cygna. The volunteer astronomers were very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and helpful.

Here are a couple helpful hints for maximizing your visit:

Dress for the weather. You will be standing outside in the dark for an hour or more.

The roads are narrow, unimproved, and not lit. Gps fails right near the entrance, so watch for the small unlit signs. Maybe make a dry run during the daytime when you can see the road.

Get there a little bit early so that you can wander around and look at the library and small exhibits.

Embrace the dark. The universe will be...

If you have any interest in the stars, space, or astronomy, this is a great place to go to learn more and experience things firsthand. There are public programs fairly frequently (time changes, check the website or call for the latest). The public progams include a basic tour of both outer space and the space inside the historic observatory building which has lots of exhibits and interesting artifacts including a giant telescope mirror.

Make sure you call ahead and get tickets before making the trek. The programs are popular and if you just show up you may be turned away at the door since its a fairly popular place and they can only accomidate a limited...

We took a big group of kids on a trip to this place. It’s was a piss poor presentation. We payed a lot of money to listen to a guy talk for 3 hours. We didn’t even get to look through the telescope. It’s was not an interactive experience. He took us on a tour of the building and didn’t get to see the library. The place was filthy and there was a foul moldy Odor. There were a tone of spider webs everywhere. At the end of the trip the guy with the long pony tale who took us on a tour asked one of the teachers “ UMM so who’s paying for this” which was kind of rude. The kids were bored and it was a waist of time and money. I wouldn’t recommend...