Friday, January 22, 2016, 6:30pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/1130817640264023/
This star party at Colby College is an event of the Waterville and Winslow Public Libraries, to introduce their Cornerstones Library Telescopes to the public. On the party’s Facebook page, over 100 people have said they would attend. Sounds as though they are going to be swamped, so CMAS has confirmed that our help would be welcome. Please bring your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your telescopes. This is a makeup date from last week, when clouds cancelled the party. Skies are forecast to be perfectly clear and reasonably transparent, but also seriously cold, so dress extra warmly!
I have always wanted to observe at Collins Observatory, or even just look inside. Tonight, we can all do both. Study its picture if you don’t believe the details!
https://www.colby.edu/visitors/location/collins-observatory/
Collins’s flat roof stands at low chest height, with the dome rising perhaps high enough for an average astronomer to stand, at least near its center. To enter, one ducks-and-crawls through a waist-high door. Immediately next door is an attractive, modernist classroom. Quite a practical design, actually. One can service the dome, or shovel snow off the flat roof, while standing safely on the ground!
Google Maps states the exact street address and G.P.S. coordinates of Collins Observatory:
245-283 Mayflower Hill Dr, Waterville, ME 04901
44.566679, -69.656335
The official address offered on Colby’s Web site, “Mayflower Hill Dr, Waterville, ME 04901,” appears to be only a mail drop. It is not the street address of the observatory. The observatory is set among some athletic fields, on the edge of campus, next to a baseball field, across the street from the football field.
