Our public observing session planned for tonight Sunday, September 18th will proceed as planned. Skies should be mostly clear but we will have the haze from western wildfires to deal with, but hopefully we will be able to see some objects through the telescopes. Gates for the public will open at 730pm. When arriving on the observatory grounds, please be sure to leave your headlights on until you are parked for the safety of everyone in the parking area.


The Next General Meeting of the Astronomical Society will be held on Monday October 10th at 730pm. The meeting will be held online via Zoom. Zoom invites to the meeting will be sent to members closer to the day of the meeting. Any non member wishing to attend can contact president@astrohbg.org to get a Zoom invite for the meeting. See our meeting page for more information.

ASH's Public Observing Sessions

ASH's has public observing sessions planned during the warmer weather months where we open our observatory up for the public to view objects through our telescopes! Please see the public observing page for dates and times! . The Public Observing sessions are held at ASH's Naylor Observatory located at 670 Observatory Drive in Lewisberry PA. The public is able to view celestial objects through telescopes located in multiple observatory buildings. Also be sure to see our meteor collection located in the Asper Building! We can only hold the events when the sky is clear enough to use the telescopes, so if it is cloudy or raining we will have to cancel the session. If we are forced to cancel a session, we will announce it on this website, on the Naylor Observatory Facebook page, or you can call the observatory at 717-938-6041 30 minutes before sunset on the day of the session to see if it is cancelled.

Public Observing

Cherry Springs Star Party

Registration is planned to open in Spring 2023 for the 2023 Cherry Springs Star Party to take place from June 15th to June 18th 2023 at Cherry Springs State Park - Cherrysprings.org

Introductory Observational Astronomy Course is planned to be held again in Spring 2023 - check back for start date.

Our six-week Introductory Observational Astronomy course will be held spring and fall on Wednesdays beginning the first weeks of April and September. Classes will be at the observatory from 7 to 9 pm, followed by informal observing with telescopes, weather permitting. Cost is $50 and includes a copy of Peterson’s Field Guide for Stars & Planets; an Edmund Scientific Star & Planet Locator planisphere and an ESSCO Star Chart. The course is limited to those 14 years and older. Please pass the word to your friends. Send a check to “ASH” c/o Bob Young, 224 Herr St., Harrisburg PA 17102. For more info contact Bob at youngbob2@aol.com.

Membership - Join ASH

ASH Membership Benefits Include:

  • Access to the Naylor Observatory and training on club telescopes

  • Members only observation times

  • Monthly Stardust Newsletter

  • Use of the ASH Library and loaner telescopes / astronomy gear

  • Access to dark sky sites

We invite you and your family to visit Naylor Observatory on selected evenings this year. Come and observe the beauty of the moon, planets, double stars, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies with your own eyes through our large telescopes. Admission is free.

Contact the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg

Mailing address for the Astornomical Society of Harrisburg

Astronomical Society of Harrisburg

P.O. Box 160

Lewisberry, PA 17339