Gather Under the Stars at BSU
By Cori Dubois
Campus Life Editor
Bridgewater State has an active outreach program that welcomes students and people of the community to public viewing nights at its on-campus observatory, free to everyone. The observatory is located at the top of the DMF Science and Mathematics Center. To get to the observatory you can take the elevators up to the fifth floor to the observatory decks, where there are viewing patios with multiple telescopes to look through.
The university is one of few state university campuses to have an operating observatory that is accessible to its students. The observatory is dedicated to furthering the education and future success of students in the Bachelor of Science degree programs, as well as allowing students’ interest in astronomy to flourish.
During these public viewing nights faculty and staff are there to assist you in finding astronomical objects through the numerous telescopes and to answer any questions you have. The objects of interest during the fall semester consist of Saturn, Mars, the moon, and more. If you are interested in constellations, planets, or just want to star-gaze this is something you should check out.
The public viewing nights being held in November are Wednesdays November 7th, 14th, and the 28th, from 6:00pm-7:30pm. There will also be one on Saturday November 17th, 6:00pm-7:30pm. In December there will be public viewing nights on Saturdays December 1st and 8th, from 5:00pm-6:30pm – also being held Wednesdays December 5th and 12th, 6:00pm-7:30pm.
For further information on when public viewing nights are being held you can check out their Twitter page, @BSUObservatory. This page will also inform you if there are any cancelations of public viewing nights due to inclement weather. You can also check their Facebook, www.bridgew.edu/observatory/ or call the observatory hotline at 508.531.DARK.
Cori is the Campus Life Editor for The Comment.
