Summer 2024 Star Parties at Foss Hill Observatory
Foss Hill Observatory
64 Foss Hill Lane, Rome, Maine 04963
Google Plus Code: H5Q2+PR Rome, Main
Saturday, June 1, 9:00pm
Saturday, July 6, 9:00pm
Saturday, August 3, 8:30pm
With the Sun setting later in summer, star parties start later. Start times listed are at dusk, leaving about half an hour to forty-five minutes to set up before the first stars become visible. Earlier arrival is okay if you want more time to set up.
The dark skies of Foss Hill Observatory are superb for viewing deep space objects. This is ideal during a summer when a coincidence of the orbits of the planets brings them into view only occasionally and at awkwardly late hours. We’ve had a number of requests for tours of the constellations; Foss Hill is ideal for those, too. Despite being central to Augusta, Waterville, and Skowhegan, Foss Hill feels wonderfully remote, as though it were much farther north. Everything about it is just perfect, or at least it will be, when your presence completes the party!
For driving directions, be sure to use the link to Google Maps above, as Foss Hill is one of those locations that mapping software often gets wrong when found from the street address. Bing maps takes you to entirely the wrong place. Mapquest gets you almost all the way to the observatory, but delivers you to the wrong driveway.