Library Telescope

This is how it is DONE! So excited for the University of Montana, the libraries of Montana, the state of Montana and especially the residents of Montana. Enjoy your big skies!!!!

- Huge congratulations to our colleagues at the University of Montana’s spectrUM Discovery Area on this fantastic effort! 🔭✨

There’s something powerful about the idea that a library card can become a ticket to exploring the night sky.

Through this initiative, telescopes are distributed to public libraries across Montana, giving families the opportunity to check out a telescope just as they would a book. The project, a $250,000 NASA TEAM II STEM Innovator award to the University of Montana, will also connect communities with NASA scientists, missions, educational resources, and programming.

What we especially appreciate about this work is its reach. In rural and tribal communities—many of which have extraordinary access to dark skies—a telescope available through the local library can open a remarkable window into science, curiosity, and discovery right from someone’s backyard.

It’s also a wonderful example of what our colleagues at spectrUM do so well: meeting people where they are, removing barriers to participation, and finding creative ways to make science something people can experience for themselves.

And there’s a great long-term story behind it: a telescope that spectrUM’s Nicholos Wethington helped place at the Missoula Public Library years ago is still being checked out today.

Congratulations to Nicholos and the entire spectrUM team, along with their library and community partners. This is exactly the kind of thoughtful, imaginative public engagement that can spark a lifelong interest in science—and perhaps inspire the next generation of astronomers, engineers, and explorers.

What a great idea, and what a great contribution to communities across our state!

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Love it when libraries show you how much you save - $10K! I can guarantee you some of that was checking out a Library Telescope!

We love libraries!!

No plans for the long weekend? Head over to your local library and pick up a telescope - this is just the weekend for it! What's that you say? No telescope at your library? Ask them to get a program started! https://librarytelescope.org/locations/start-a-program

The next generation of space telescopes is on its way! Just launched, the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is an infrared space observatory designed to map wide areas of the universe (100x larger than Hubble) and study dark energy, dark matter and exoplanets! Very cool!!

Our newest space telescope is on its way to revealing the universe's darkest secrets!

How much do you know about our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope? We've got the key facts: https://go.nasa.gov/4clYwet

Partial lunar eclipse tonight - no telescope needed (although def cool to use one) let's hope for clear skies where you live!

Look up tonight! 🌕🔴

The Sturgeon Moon eclipse is underway, and it's putting on a show. As the Moon slips deeper into Earth's shadow, watch for that deep red-orange glow to take over.

No glasses, filters, or equipment required, just clear skies and a bit of patience.

⏰ Peak darkening hits just after midnight (12:13 AM ET) tonight. West Coast folks, that's 9:13 PM for you.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/45LkVOF

Subscribe for more observing guides, astronomy news, and skywatching tips: https://bit.ly/4uUYIJ4

You shouldn't need expensive equipment, a science degree, or a backyard observatory to explore the universe. The Library Telescope Program is here to bring space science and astronomy to everyone in your community. That's one of the things we love about libraries. A library can put books in your hands, information at your fingertips—and, with a Library Telescope, a window to the universe right outside your door. 🌌

Big week in the skies this week worldwide! The peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower will be this week as well as a solar eclipse visible mostly in Europe and Iceland but there are parts of the USA and Canada who will be able to see a partial solar eclipse tomorrow. Great video from Outside Magazine below summarizes the skies this week!

Reminder, never look at the sun through a telescope without a proper solar filter!

Why August 12 Will Be the Biggest Stargazing Night of 2026 If there’s one night of 2026 to watch the sky, it’s this one. This is the first time a total solar eclipse and the Perseid meteor shower peak have coincided in the 21st century.

Fireworks aren't allowed in Great Basin National Park, even on the Fourth of July, but the aurora borealis (nature's fireworks) clearly didn't get the memo...

A strong (G3) geomagnetic storm hit Earth on the eve of America's 250th birthday, bringing the northern lights far south enough to delight attendees of Great Basin's astronomy program. Because our night skies are so dark, the lights were easily visible to the naked eye, originally as green before changing to pink. Before the advent of widespread light pollution in the late19th century, this is the kind of view that Americans all over the country would have enjoyed -- no need to travel to Alaska or Iceland!

Fortunately, light pollution is one of the easiest forms of pollution to clear up - it just requires turning off the lights! Using warm colors (like the red lights in Great Basin's astronomy program areas), turning off lights whenever they aren't in use, and directing lights downward are all easy ways to improve the quality of your night skies. If we all do our part, then the next time universe's prettiest fireworks show decides to come our way, it might just be visible from your back yard.

Photo Credit: NPS/C. Murray

We had a great Library Telescope kick off night with the Mounds Public Library in Mounds, IL this week. Check out some of the pics the police and fire departments blocked off 1st street for us!