Silhouettes of people viewing the night sky through a telescope at Universe in the Park.

Overview

The Astronomy department provides a range of services to the broader community, including public observing at Washburn Observatory, at Space Place, and through the Universe in the Park program.

In addition, UW Space Place hosts regular public presentations about current astronomical topics and a museum highlighting the contributions by UW Madison to Astronomy and Astrophysics and to Space Science.

We regularly field questions about everyday astronomical events and occurrences, like meteor showers, solar flares, and space probes.