Photo by John Mahony

A group of Girl Scouts inspects the new 16" LX200R, with the dome for the new refractor in the background.

Prairie Grass Observatory is located under dark rural skies at Camp Cullom (Clinton County Foundation for Youth), between Mulberry and Frankfort, Indiana, and is available to the public. Technical assistance is provided by the Wabash Valley Astronomical Society.

The observatory has four telescopes: a huge 28" aperture Dobsonian, a 16" LX200R Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, a 16" Newtonian telescope, and a 7" apochromatic refractor. The observatory also has a pair of giant 25/40X100 binoculars, and a hydrogen-alpha filter for solar viewing. Click here for more info on these scopes and other equipment at the observatory.

Breaking News!

Asteroids Discovered at Prairie Grass Observatory!

For details, click here.

Indiana Family Star Party 2007

Was held August 9-12 2007 at Camp Cullom

The weather was great, and we had a record crowd

IFSP2008 will be held July 31-Aug 3, 2008

Recent News

Thanks to two recent generous donations, we've upgraded our 12" LX200 to a 16" LX200R.

Installing the new 16" LX200R

In 2005 Buck Harley from near LaPorte IN donated his 7" Meade ED apochromatic refractor to PGO.
We spent the summer of 2006 building a domed observatory for the scope:

$refractor$

RIP, Buck Harley

Buck had been in failing health for a few years, and during this year's IFSP, right after taking the group photo in front of the dome housing Buck's refractor, we received word from his wife that he had died earlier that morning at his home. I've put together a memorial page for him, here.

Public Viewing Events

Photo by John Mahony

The International Space Station and other satellites can be viewed through the observatory's 16" LX200R telescope.

Click here for a schedule of upcoming public viewing events.
In order to avoid bright headlights in the observing area, please use the parking lot east of the Nature center.

Given the unpredictability of the weather, we are also open on random clear nights. Scroll down to here for info on our e-mail lists, if you want to receive "short notice" alerts for these nights.
The observatory is also available at special request for group viewing events. Contact Russ Kaspar at rk@kasparradio.com or John Mahony at jmmahony@hotmail.com.

Need directions to the site? Here's a map (includes a map of Camp Cullom).

Parking is east of the Nature Center.

Astrophotography

Doug Sanqunetti took this image of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) using his own
telescope on the PGO grounds. Doug is one of several local area amateur astronomers
who bring their own telescopes to use under the dark rural skies of Camp Cullom.

Click here for more astrophotography of the sun and moon, the planets, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.
All images taken at PGO

H-alpha Solar View

Here's a photo of a solar prominence taken through our H-alpha solar filter.
Click on the photo for more.

Prairie Grass Observatory is an official asteroid tracking/discovery station,
performing follow-up observations of newly discovered near-earth asteroids.

Click to subscribe to pg_obs The observatory has two "Yahoo Groups" e-mail lists. Both are open to the public. The first, on the left, is the "official" observatory mail list and is used primarily only for notices of events at the observatory. The second, on the right, will also include notices of events at nearby astronomy clubs in Lafayette and Indianapolis, and can also be used for general discussions of astronomy and telescope equipment, and can be used by local amateur astronomers in the area to arrange observing get-togethers at Camp Cullom or elsewhere.
Click to subscribe to pg-astro

"Short-Notice" Event Alerts

Given the unpredictibility of the weather, we frequently open the observatory on random clear nights. One of the principle uses of the e-mail lists will be for short-notice announcements that the observatory will be open that night. Through the miracle of RSS, the most recent messages from the first group are listed below, so you can see if we will be open tonight.

Recent messages from the pg_obs Yahoo Group:

There is power (both a.c. and 12v d.c.) available at the site, and water and restrooms at the camp's Nature Center, about 75 yards away. There are two concrete observing pads and a picnic table located at the west end of the observatory area, so you can bring your own telescope there even on nights when the observatory is not open. But be sure to call the camp ranger ahead of time (see below for #), since the camp is occasionally closed for special events.

The observatory is named "Prairie Grass Observatory" because it is located in the middle of one of the largest stands of native prairie grass in the state.

Click here for a history of the development of Prairie Grass Observatory.
For those considering building a small observatory, construction details are available here.

Click here to see Clinton Couty's light pollution ordinance.

The observatory is part of Camp Cullom, which is operated by the Clinton County Foundation for Youth.
For more information on the observatory itself, contact Russ Kaspar at rk@kasparradio.com or John Mahony at jmmahony@hotmail.com.

Camp Cullom phone: (765)296-2753 Note that this is the camp ranger's home phone, do not call after 10 pm!
This is a local call from both Lafayette and Frankfort.