top of page
Public Events
Public Open Houses: Open Houses are free, public sessions for stargazing with telescopes that are usually, but not always, held at the West Lafayette Observatory (WLO) or Prairie Grass Observatory (PGO). The events normally include an astronomy-related presentation and constellation finding. In addition to observatory telescopes being made available, club members also share their telescopes with the public to look at various celestial objects of interest. Visitors may come and go as they please. The stargazing portion of the event is cancelled if the weather is mostly cloudy, raining, or very windy.
Public Event Schedule:
Date | Location | Event Description |
|---|---|---|
June 7, 2025 | West Lafayette Observatory | Public solar observing with specially filtered astronomical telescopes will take place, weather permitting, from 3-5 p.m. A presentation about the Sun will be given. This is a free event. |
June 14, 2025 | Tippecanoe County Amphitheater | Outdoor Explore! This Tippecanoe County Parks and Recreation event showcases summer outdoor activities, including astronomy. WVAS will have a booth to describe our activities and to display and demonstrate use of astronomical telescopes. |
July 22, 2025 | Camp Cullom | Indiana Family Star Party. See https://indianastars.com/starparty/ |
Sept. 6, 2025 | West Lafayette Observatory | Free public stargazing with astronomical telescopes will take place at the West Lafayette Observatory, weather permitting, from 8:30-10 p.m. A space or astronomy-related presentation will be given, even if the sky is mostly cloudy. |
Oct. 4, 2025 | West Lafayette Observatory | Free public stargazing with astronomical telescopes will take place at the West Lafayette Observatory, weather permitting, from 8:30-10 p.m. A space or astronomy presentation will be given, even if the sky is mostly cloudy. |
Nov. 1, 2025 | West Lafayette Observatory | This is our annual "Telescope Fair", intended for people considering the purchase of a telescope. We'll go over the types of telescopes and discuss their advantages and disadvantages and what to look for when making your selection. Several telescopes will be shown. If weather permits, we may go outside after the slide show and look through different telescopes so you can see the differences. |
April 4, 2026 | West Lafayette Observatory | Free public stargazing with astronomical telescopes will take place, weather permitting, from 8:30-10 p.m. at the West Lafayette Observatory. |
May 9, 2026 | West Lafayette Observatory | Free public stargazing with astronomical telescopes will take place, weather permitting, from 9-10:30 p.m. at the West Lafayette Observatory. A space or astronomy-related presentation will be given, even if the sky is mostly cloudy. |
bottom of page