Star Tour · two hours · after dark
Under the open roof.
The roof slides back, the sky over the Tucson Mountains opens up, and a guide takes your group from one telescope to the next.
Your guide starts from whatever you already know.
Victor Sunstar leads the observatory's team of night sky guides. Tell them you know the sky well, or that you've never looked through a telescope, and they take it from there.
Three telescopes
One for each kind of look.
14" Celestron
Ideal for deep-sky objects and fine planetary detail.
10" Meade LX200
Computerized precision experienced star gazers will enjoy.
4" Stellarvue refractor
Excellent for wide-field viewing at any skill level.
An honest word
Telescopes don't show you magazine colours. They show you the real thing, live.
Planets
Small, bright and sharp. Saturn's rings are visible when Saturn is up; ask which planets are in the sky the week you book.
Galaxies and clusters
Soft grey glows and fields of pin-point stars. Dark sky helps, and southern Arizona has some of the darkest in the country.
Weather
Clouds can hide everything. No cloud policy is published, so ask how a cloudy night is handled when you book.
Bring
A jacket for the desert night, and a bottle of wine to pass the time if you like.