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Florida Atlantic University Astronomical Observatory
FAU Observatory

Welcome to the Observatory's Front Page. Included here are some of the latest news and articles that may be of interest to our visitors.

FAU's Astronomical Observatory is housed under a four meter diameter dome on the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University. We welcome students, faculty, staff and members of the general public to join our scheduled observations or our public viewing events. Our telescope is mounted on a small platform, at the top of stairs, looking out of the roof of our building, over Boca Raton, to space and beyond!

News of FAU Observatory

Section updated: Jan. 5th, 2026.

Happy New Year!

Sat. Jan. 10th: Jupiter’s Opposition ♃☍ Public Viewing Session

Jupiter's Opposition

Image from the Juno mission, NASA/JPL-Caltech

On the evening of Saturday, the 10th of January, FAU's Astronomical Observatory will be celebrating Jupiter's Opposition to the Sun. This is a, public viewing, open dome event to come together and explore the king of the planets, JUPITER.

 

Date:  Saturday, Jan. 10th – Sunday Jan. 11th, 2026

Time:  7:00 pm until 1:00 am.

Activities:  Presentations about Jupiter, its moons and Juno, the next planetary probe mission to Jupiter, and observations of the Jovian system!

Details: On Jan.10th  at 0319 EST, the Earth will have moved in its orbit to perfectly place the planet Jupiter at the sky's opposition to the Sun.  This means that outer planet will appear to be in the directly opposite direction of the sky from the Sun, hence the name of "opposition".  This happens when the Earth gets directly in line between the outer planet and the Sun.  Such perfect celestial alignments are called syzygies.  We'll be as close as we can be to the planet for this orbital pass and providing us with the best telescopic views of the planet for the year!

Presentations: The presentation that will talk about Jupiter and its moons, will lead into a discussion about the Formation of the Solar System and the problems with the formation theory, discuss some of the newer exciting theories coming around, including the new theorized “planet nine” that lurks far off in the solar system and almost in the Oort cloud and finally talk about NASA's Juno spacecraft, which may help not only answer some of these questions but even give us more clues about the formation of our own home planet.

More Observatory News for January