Palisades-Dows Observatory
Posted by: welch
N 41° 53.340 W 091° 29.972
15T E 624482 N 4638540
Small observatory owned by the Cedar Amateur Astronomers (a club) and Linn county conservation
Waymark Code: WMPM6
Location: Iowa, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2006
Views: 62
Club:
The buildings and permanent telescopes are owned by the Cedar Amateur Astronomers. A formal non-profit founded in 1980 with a dozen members, now claims over 100 members.
Area/Grounds:
The grounds are actually owned by the linn county conservation board and are part of the Palisades-Dows Wildlife Preserve.
There are two permanent buildings, one is a dome housing a 16 inch Celestron 'classical'. The other building is a "roll off" roof building with 6 inch refracter and a 16 inch Meade LX200 Schmidt cassegrain. There are also several pads and electrial outlets for portable telescopes.
The club is also in the process of receiving a Boller & Chivens classical and a robotic telescope. Construction of another building, and a new parking lot are in progress.
Viewing:
Typically there is one night a month (March through October) that the club hosts Public Observing Nights. These feature a short presentation and then public celestial viewing. Normally these are held at the Observatory, but because of the construction have been moved, to see upcoming events check
CAA events page. Consruction should be completed sometime in 2007.
Visit Instructions:Note the time of day of your visit, and your own photo of your favorite part of the observatory. This might be the view from the observatory, picture of your favorite building or favorite exhibit. (Be mindful of flash photography rules!)
If you participated in an observing session, let everyone know what you saw!