College of Charleston Observatory

11/11/2025

Open House - Friday, Nov. 14th. Tickets are required ONLY for the large telescope/observatory on the roof. Smaller telescopes on the rooftop deck will be available for viewing without a ticket.

We will be hosting an Open House of our department this Friday, Nov. 14th, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. We will have smaller telescopes, manned by members of the department, on the roof deck for observing objects. There will also be hands-on science experiments, with faculty and students to answer questions, in the 3rd-floor lab rooms.

Limited tickets are available through the attached link to go into the Observatory dome and observe objects using the main telescope (24").

The event is FREE and open to the general public.

Again, tickets are NOT required to go on the rooftop deck or the 3rd floor demos. Tickets are only required to view the main telescope in our Observatory dome.

Come to the 3rd floor of the Hollings Science Center and follow the signs to reach the roof.

Paid parking is available in the garage at 24 St. Phillips Street, about 1 block from the Hollings Science Center.

November Open House - Friday, 11/14/2025, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Rita Hollings Science Center. Limited tickets for Observatory.

10/22/2025

Open House - Friday, Oct. 24th. Tickets are required ONLY for the large telescope/observatory on the roof.

We will be hosting an Open House of our department this Friday, Oct. 24th, from 7:30 - 9:30 pm. We will have telescopes on the roof deck with astronomers. There will also be hands-on science experiments, with faculty and students to answer questions, in the 3rd-floor lab rooms.

Limited tickets are available through the attached link to go into the Observatory dome and observe objects using the main telescope (24").

The event is FREE and open to the general public.

Again, tickets are NOT required to go on the rooftop deck or the 3rd floor demos. Tickets are only required to view the main telescope in our Observatory dome.

Come to the 3rd floor of the Hollings Science Center and follow the signs to reach the roof.

Paid parking is available in the garage at 24 St. Phillips Street, about 1 block from the Hollings Science Center.

October Open House - Friday, 10/24/2025, 7:30 - 9:30 pm, Rita Hollings Science Center. Limited tickets for Observatory.

11/20/2024

The open house in October worked so well, we're doing another one. This Friday, Nov. 22nd from 6:30 - 8:30pm.

Get tickets (required) from the below Eventbrite link.

The weather could be much colder on the roof than on the street-level, dress accordingly.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/friday-nov-22nd-tickets-will-be-checked-tickets-1089926432299?aff=oddtdtcreator

10/16/2024

Open House on Friday, October 18th, 7 - 9 pm.

The rooftop deck, with multiple telescopes and astronomers, will be open.

Unlike our past events, this will only be rooftop observing. We will not have any other activities for attendees.

The event is FREE and open to the general public. However, the space for this event is very limited - only 50 tickets will be distributed. Be sure to have either printed out or electronic copies of your tickets available. These will be scanned prior to going on the roof.

In the event that the skies are not clear on Friday afternoon, we will cancel the event. Please check this site or Eventbrite for last minute cancellation before heading downtown.

Telescope observing on roof of Rita Hollings Science Center - Friday, 10/18/2024, 7-9pm.

04/09/2024

The 2024 partial solar eclipse viewed from the College of Charleston.

10/11/2023

The Veil nebula (NGC 6960) is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant. The progenitor was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of the explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in the daytime. When finely resolved, some parts of the nebula appear to be rope-like filaments. The standard explanation is that the shock waves are very thin and the shell is visible only when viewed exactly edge-on, giving the shell the appearance of a filament. The Veil Nebula is expanding at a velocity of about 1.5 million kilometers per hour.
(Information from wiki).

This picture is a combination of images from the Apogee Aspen CG16M CCD instrument mounted on CofC’s 24 inch PlaneWave CDK telescope, taken with H-alpha, OIII, and R filters. Exposures H-alpha: 2x180sec, OIII: 2x180sec, and R: 2x120sec. The H-alpha and OIII filters are optical filters designed to transmit narrow bandwidths of light centered on the H-alpha wavelength (656.28 nm) and on the OIII wavelengths (496nm and 501nm,) respectively.

Observer: Dr. George Chartas

03/13/2023

March Open House will be this Friday, March 17th from 8 - 9:30 pm. Use the link below to get the FREE tickets from Eventbrite.

March Open House - Friday, 03/17/2023, 8-9:30 pm.

02/13/2023

February Open House this Friday, 02/17, from 6:30 - 8pm. We are unsure whether the portable planetarium will be running as our zipper issue is still not resolved. Use the below link to get the FREE tickets from Eventbrite.

February Open House - Friday, 02/17/2023, 6:30-8pm.

10/24/2022

October Open House this Friday, 10/28, from 7 - 8:30pm. We are unsure whether the portable planetarium will be running as our zipper issue is still not resolved. Use the below link to get the FREE tickets from Eventbrite.

October Open House - Friday, 10/28/2022, 7-8:30pm.

10/22/2022

Pelican Nebula is an H II region (a region of ionized hydrogen) associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name. The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb. (Information from wikepedia)

This picture is a combination of images from the Apogee Aspen CG16M CCD instrument mounted on CofC’s 24 inch telescope , taken with Halpha (Ha), green (V) and blue (B) filters. Exposures Ha: 7x180sec, V: 7x180sec, and B: 7x180sec

The H-alpha filter is an optical filter designed to transmit a narrow bandwidth of light centered on the H-alpha wavelength of 656.28 nm. It is suitable for blocking out light pollution from downtown Charleston and capturing the brightest hydrogen line emitted by the Pelican Nebula in the visible spectral range.
Observer: Dr. George Chartas