This activity is weather-dependent. Please dress for cool to chilly weather.

Come to the second Friday of each month for free!

• February 13
• March 13
• April 10
• May 8

Free Public Stargazing event at the Montgomery Hill Observatory.  

This activity is weather-dependent. Please dress for cool to chilly weather.

Enjoy a free public stargazing event at the Montgomery Hill Observatory from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 pm. View the skies at our observatory with several telescopes set out for the public. Perfect for kids to learn how to use telescopes! We will be projecting images collected from our main telescope as well as from our Enhance Vision telescope as well.  

We are in the middle of winter, and with that we have the Winter Hexagon (or circle) visible in the sky. The winter hexagon is a large pattern in the sky that involves six stars belonging to different constellations. We expect gas giant Jupiter and super giant star Betelgeuse to be confined inside the winter hexagon this night.  

Though this large structure in the sky paints a nice pattern for us to observe, each of the stars that composes this hexagon brings their own story.  

Rigel: A massive super-giant variable star that is about 860 light years away from Earth. The name is an adaptation from word for leg in Arabic, in reference to it’s location within the Orion constellation being Orion's foot.  

Aldebaran: A giant star located 65 light-years away from Earth. Another star whose name has Arabic roots. In this case, the name is drawn from the word follower. This is the case due to it’s path in the sky making it appear as though it would be following the Pleiades.  

Capella: The sixth brightest star in the sky overall, and third brightest in the northern hemisphere, is a quadruple star composed of 2 pairs of binary star systems. For ancient Greeks, this star that represented Amalthea, the she-goat who nursed the infant Zeus.  

Pollux: The closest giant star to our sun, only about 34 light years away from the solar system. In Greek and Roman legends, Pollux and its twin Castor would help sailors in times of need. They were the sons of the queen of Sparta, Leda.  

Procyon: A binary star system, consisting of a white main-sequence star, a faint white dwarf. In medieval times, this star formed part of a special group of stars, the 15 Behenian fixed stars. Stars that were believed to have powerful magical powers.  

Sirius: Or Alpha Canis Majoris, the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation, is a binary star system. This star has been referenced in many cultures. For the Greeks it was one of Orion's hunting hounds, for the Pawnee people it was the wolf star that introduced death to the world, in Egypt it was the star of Isis, whose tears caused floods, and the list goes on.