In an article titled “The 10 Best Observatories in the U.S. to Visit in 2024” on the “Space Tourism Guide” website, the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter was ranked #1. Attendees of the Vatican Observatory’s Astronomy for Catholics in Ministry and Education (ACME) workshop in January 2024 had a tour of this facility – I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many domes in one location! The site holds a special significance to me, as it is the home of the Catalina Sky Survey – the most prolific discoverer of asteroids in the world… it even says so on a chalk board in their control room!
ACME visitors ate lunch in a building used for educational programs; the walls were covered with astrophotos of deep-space objects. I’ve never seen so many binoculars in one place either! It was great to see; all I could think about was a group of excited kids using them, and how much I’d like to get my granddaughter up there for the experience!
Observatories from the article: (Bolded entries are ones I’ve visited)
- Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter Observatory
- Oregon Observatory at Sunriver
- McDonald Observatory
- Griffith Observatory
- Yerkes Observatory
- Bishop Museum
- Tellus Science Museum
- Museum of Science
- Lowell Observatory
- Green Bank Observatory
