Stargazers invited to Tulane Observatory

Astronomy buffs have another place to take in the wonders of outer space — the Tulane Observatory.

The observatory will reopen to the public on the first Wednesday of each month beginning March 2 at 8 p.m., weather permitting. The observatory is located on the roof of Joseph Merrick Jones Hall, 6801 Freret St., between Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse and the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library.

The Tulane Observatory replaces the Cunningham Observatory, which was used by hundreds of students from 1940 until it was demolished in 2001 to make way for the expansion of the A. B. Freeman School of Business.

The current observatory houses a modern, computer-controlled, 16-inch reflecting telescope, providing an opportunity to view the moon and planets and on occasion deep sky objects, such as galaxies, nebulae and star clusters.

The observatory will close for the summer, then reopen in the fall if the earlier public viewings were successful. The web page of physics professor emeritus Dan Purrington will list updates, such as weather-related cancellations or later hours due to Daylight Savings Time, which begins March 13.