The Allan I. Carswell Astronomical Observatory has been a prominent hub for science outreach to the broader community since 1969. About 5,000 visitors a year visited the Observatory for in person public viewing on Wednesday nights; online public viewing opportunities have increased with the pandemic and expanded engagement. Our most popular regular events are York Universe Radio Show on Monday nights, Online Public Viewing (that runs during the radio show), TeleTube YouTube shows on Wednesday nights, Public Observing and Group Tours.
Upcoming Events
Monday Nights: York Universe Radio Show Podcast and Online Public Viewing
Podcast main site - Amazon, Apple, Spotify and more!
Podcast RSS Feed
- Kasra Fard (code and system design)
- Sorena Sharifzadeh, Arfa Ali, Mani Mehdipoor, Halima Mohamud, Obada Wazwaz, and Marianna Veltri (archive detectives)
Wednesday Nights: Live Public Viewing
The Observatory is open for in-person public viewing every Wednesday evening after sunset. Visit our homepage for tickets and times as the sunset will change throughout the year. Visitors are able to observe selected celestial objects in the presence of friendly staff and to engage in various hands-on presentations.
The tours will be either in the domes OR located at our atrium area atop the arboretum parking garage. Make sure to check your free tickets to see what location to go to before arriving on site.
Online TeleTube Tours
The Observatory hosts a live TeleTube tour on its YouTube channel on the last Friday of every month at 7:30 p.m. ET. This online viewing is followed by a Q&A session with the Observatory team. View our Archive of TeleTube Episodes.
The program was initiated at the start of covid and has continued on as a monthly educational broadcast featuring guest talks and astronomy/science topics presented by our Observatory student team.
Group Tours
The Observatory offers private tours for school groups, youth organizations, clubs, and large groups of interested individuals; these includes slide show presentations, tours of our facilities, live demonstrations and hands-on activities, and of course, viewing through the telescopes when conditions permit.
We also offer our tours and live demonstrations through Zoom to groups of 10 or more. Hands on activities may require print-outs or use of a computer screen. Please note that due to funding restrictions free tours may not always be possible. To help us continue this initiative please consider donating to the observatory here.
Please contact us at [email protected] to schedule a group tour.
Special Celestial Events
During special celestial events, like solar eclipses, planet alignments, meteor showers and more, the Observatory hosts public viewing events (in-person and online events are possible). See our homepage for announcements. A few previous events that have made a big impact are:
2024 Solar Eclipse: AICO events and eclipse info!
2024 Winter Donation Drive and Fundraiser: Completed and Future Fundraising goals are found here!
2023 in Review, Read the Directors Newsletter out Now!
