ONU Astronomy Observatory

Mission and Background
The ONU Observatory has a mission to educate and inspire the students of Ohio Northern University, as well as the surrounding community, about the rapidly evolving and exciting science of astronomy.

The ONU Observatory has been in planning since about 2003, while its construction occurred between March and September, 2010. The observatory is primarily used by ONU students in physics and astronomy classes, faculty, and by the ONU Astronomy Club. However, it is also opened up for public events on a semi-regular basis.

Above: An architectural sketch of the ONU Observatory as viewed from the West. Dashed lines indicate the extent of the roll-off roof.

Below: The final ONU Observatory as of December 2010. The image of Saturn was created with a darker colored, raised brick. The central observing room contains three piers with permanently mounted telescopes, greatly reducing the set-up time. On the left end is a (warmed) control room where CCD detectors and telescopes can be operated by computers. On the right end are the restrooms (also warmed). The main entrance is on the North (left) end. The double doors on the West side are handicap accessible.

The ONU Observatory as viewed from West in winter.

Left: an ONU student takes an astrophoto. (Photo by Ken Colwell.)

Right: interior view of roof.

Location
The ONU Observatory is located on the Northwest side of campus (see map). Parking is located in the Wander Baseball Field lot just off of Lincoln Avenue. This is the same lot where public viewing events have been held in the past.

ONU campus map showing astronomy viewing site (in red):

Map of Ada, OH showing astronomy viewing site (marker B).

NOTE: before coming to the observatory, check for cancellations on our public events page.

Contact
Dr. J. Pinkney, Manager, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy.
j-pinkney@onu.edu
419-772-2740
Science Annex 111
Pinkney's Homepage