I've lived in Nashville for seven years. I commuted to school here for three years, AT VANDERBILT, before that. And somehow, this weekend was my first ever visit to the Dyer Observatory. A friend brought me along to the Special Parade of Planets Telescope Night and I had a blast. We roamed the roof to various telescopes and were able to see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Seeing Saturn's rings and Jupiter's gaseous colored atmosphere was so unbelievably cool. The staff were super nice and knowledgeable as we approached each telescope. On the front lawn, an astrophotography enthusiast had set up shop and was showing live footage of the Andromeda galaxy. Whether you're already an astronomy enthusiast or just want to try something different one evening, the observatory is absolutely worth a visit! read more

Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory - Checking out Jupiter through a telescope that weighs at least one ton - Observatories Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

A hidden gem in Nashville! A great place for all ages. I've only been once and shame on me for not going more. read more

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I remember coming here back when I was in high school. I loved it then, and I still think it's a great place. This time, we were there for my niece's wedding, and it really is a nice venue. The wedding was outdoors, but luckily, the weather was kind. During the reception, we were able go look through the telescope and enjoy the stars. Although satellites have largely replaced earth-bound telescopes for research, this really is a fine piece of equipment, and it is still awesome to look through it. read more

Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory - Observatories Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

What a wonderful spot! My party and I attended a telescope night!! We were so impressed with the quality of the event, the volunteers, and the exhibits! Getting to look through the telescope felt a bit rushed, because of the others waiting in line, however the staff were wonderful and had oriented the telescope so that there were interesting things for a normal person to see and be impressed by! We (as adults) and the kids at the event were all struck by a to-scale-model of stars that they had on exhibit in the facility... we could have spent hours just looking at that! There was so much information to learn in a way that people without backgrounds in astronomy could thoroughly understand. We will definitely be back and will recommend the Dyer events to all people as a special touch to their Nashville visits!! read more

Went on telescope night... This place is an inspiration for birth control. It's packed with annoying kids who have zero appreciation of what they are seeing. I really don't understand why people bring kids here at all. Not one kid was impressed with what they were seeing/learning. Take your crappy kids to McDonalds and give them some cheap plastic happy meal toy, they'll like it 100x better. They had 4 telescopes set up... 2 smaller telescopes that are the kind most amateur astronomers own, and then two larger ones that live in the telescope silo things that you only find at observatories. The larger of the two small telescopes was focused in on Jupiter, allowing you to see 3-4 of the surface rings plus its 4 larger moons: Io, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede. The third largest telescope was focused on the M13 star cluster, while the largest was looking at the ring nebula. The best part of telescope night is access to the astronomers. There's about a dozen astronomers hanging around explaining everything you see, and they all love to answer questions and give you detailed answers to any astronomy related questions you may have. They have a huge print of the Hubble deep field image at on the ground floor... if you're unfamiliar with what that is, make sure to get an explanation from one of the astronomers and be ready to have your mind blown. read more

I feel a little cold-hearted giving this place three stars. I mean, it's such a valuable resource. And it's very important that the public gets back into space exploration, and this place is doing its part to promote that. But I need to let you know that if you attend a telescope night, you're going to wait in a really long line to look through that giant telescope at some distant galaxy for 2 minutes, and all you will see is a blurry white blob. Sure, that's special. It's not an artist's rendering of that distant galaxy. It's the actual light that was emitted by that galaxy thousands of years ago hitting your eyes. But if you've been spoiled by imax movies of hubble space telescope images, you might be a bit let down. So if you're thinking about bringing children, consider these things: (a) Are your children great at waiting in long lines late at night? (b) Can they carefully stare into a tiny hole without moving a specially positioned piece of equipment? (c) Will they be elated to see a fuzzy white blob just because you told them it was a galaxy? If this is the case, you must be very proud. Bring your children. If they can't do those things, you may want to hold off, for your own sanity. Here are some great things about the Dyer Observatory. The hallway is lined with incredible space photos. The first floor features interesting specimen displays (meteors! moondust!) And the staff (local space enthusiasts?) are exciting and informative. Many of them are woman and teenage girls, and I was really glad to see them inspiring young girls to take an interest in science. All in all, I'm proud to have such a great resource in Nashville, but it wasn't a mindblowing experience. read more

What a cool place. Two of my kids have attended their summer camp, during which they learned a lot about real science, did some fun activities, and even met some space-industry heavy hitters (like they guy who designed the Hubble Telescope!). The staff seem great and enthusiastic. I appreciate that they encouraged each of my kids to stay with science and study hard. The facility itself is fairly small, and the big telescope is old. However, it works, and I was able to see Saturn and its rings pretty well. read more

Very impressed. Can't believe I've lived in Nashville so long and we'd never been. I'm excited about attending more events. Especially with the Symphony. Events book fast so book early! read more

Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory - See the stars #Nashville! - Observatories Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

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A great place for the whole family. Make sure you make reservations for telescope nights early. They fill up fast. Check out our full review w/ pictures: http://nashvillefunforfamilies.com/dyer-observatory/ read more