THE OBSERVATORY

The Robert A. Schommer Observatory

The Rutgers Astronomical Observatory named after Robert A. Schommer. A Professor at Rutgers University who carried out some of the first CCD imaging studies of the Large Magellanic Cloud star clusters. His work was fundamental in our understanding of the chemical histories of star clusters in the Magellanic cloud and M33.

WEATHER

Sky chart from Clear Dark Skies. click the image to be taken to their website along with the reading guide:

Gifs and Graphs provided by the Rutgers Weather Center :

Directions

The Robert A. Schommer Astronomical Observatory is located in the dome on the roof of the Serin Physics Laboratories on the corner of Frelinghuysen Road and Allison Road on the Busch Campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Our address is 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ and directions to our building are available. Park in lot 53 (between the building and the street) or lot 53A (about one block east on the other side of Frelinghuysen Road). Enter the doors on the west end of the building (facing Allison Road). This places you on the second floor of the building. Take the stairs or the elevator (both of which are on the left side of the lobby) to the third floor, turn right immediately past the double doors, and enter room 330 on your right.

The observatory itself is located on the 4th floor in room 401, but we ask everyone coming for our public observing nights to come to room 330 first. We will then guide attendees to the observatory in order to not overcrowd the dome.