Join Chesterfield Astronomical Society for an amazing stargazing experience!
Open every Friday from 8pm, our main telescope, and the smaller scopes outside provide alternative opportunities for viewing the planets, moon and stars. Find Out More
Due to the ongoing health risk caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, the Chesterfield Barnett Observatory will be temporarily closed from Tuesday 17th March 2020. Therefore all people – both visitors and members of the Chesterfield Astronomical Society – are asked not to visit the observatory until the pandemic has passed.
We will, of course, be back to our usual opening of 8pm every Friday as soon as possible and the reopening will be announced to society members directly and to the public via our website and an announcement on our Facebook page.
Additionally, we will accept group bookings for next autumn onwards so please feel free to make bookings via our website.
Our observatory is open every Friday from 8pm onwards until the last person leaves. We always give visitors a warm welcome so if you’d like to join us, please feel free to do so. You don’t need to book your visit, just pop over to see us and we’ll show you around and make sure you get the opportunity to do some stargazing too if the weather is with us. We rely on the generosity of the local community to keep the observatory open so please can you place a small donation of £2 in our visitors’ pot when you visit.
Friday night is also members’ night and whilst we are always delighted to receive visitors please be aware that sometimes our members could be busy with their hobby which can require a high level of concentration so might appreciate it if you avoid interrupting them when using or setting up a telescope. Thanks for your understanding.
If you’d like to learn more about the observatory, click here
We very much hope that you will come and visit us on a Friday evening when we will make sure you have an astronomically good time 🙂
Our observatory is located on a small residential close. As such, parking can be a problem and we ask that all visitors – including those who drop off children or adults for group visits – consider our neighbours’ needs for parking and respect the peace and privacy to which they are entitled. Please help us to ensure we maintain a good relationship with our neighbours. Thank you.
