George Mason Observatory

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Many people are unaware that George Mason University once had two astronomy observatories. The first of these observatories officially opened on October 6, 1975, with construction beginning in 1972. Though informally known as the Herschel Observatory by the Department of Physics, this name was never officially adopted. The observatory was built by students John Whalan, Chipper Peterson, and Bob Veenstra, under the supervision of Bill Lankford.

In the fall of 1975, Menas Kafatos took over supervision of the Herschel Observatory. Located in a pig shed adjacent to the Mallory House, across Route 123 from the main campus, the observatory was eventually dismantled to make way for the Field House. A second observatory was then constructed on the athletic fields but was ultimately demolished by 1980 due to vandalism.

For decades, there were plans to establish a new observatory at Mason, with proposed sites including the rooftops of Science and Technology I, Science and Technology II, and Academic IV (now Innovation Hall). In 1982, a petition circulated by Geller, which was received by then-President Johnson, highlighted the need for a new observatory. Despite strong support from faculty like Lankford, Kafatos, Lieb, Ellsworth, Ehrlich, Becker, Wallin, Geller, and Dworzecka, as well as administrators such as Provost Stearns, Vice-Provost Hill, Dean Struppa, and Dean Kafatos, financial constraints continually halted progress.

Today, nearly 40 years later, George Mason University proudly hosts its new observatory atop the Research Hall in Fairfax Campus. The Research Hall observatory features an impressive collection of telescopes, including a 32″ Ritchey-Chretien Telescope, a 12″ Cassegrain (Mancini), a 6″ Solar Telescope (Lunt), a 16″ Dobsonian (Strickland), and two Meade 12″ Schmidt-Cassegrains (SCTs). Like its predecessor, the modern observatory is heavily utilized for public outreach events. As Kafatos predicted in a 1978 interview with Mason’s Broadside, the observatory serves as a valuable resource for the community, including Boy Scout troops and other youth groups. Mason students also benefit greatly, using the observatory to enhance their understanding of astronomy.