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Welcome to the CMS Observatory!
The CMS Observatory sits on the campus of Cody Middle School in Cody, Wyoming. The observatory contains a 14" Celestron telescope on a Paramount computerized base and several smaller telescopes, including solar telescopes, which are used to help expand student knowledge and fascination of the universe. The facility is primarily available for use within the school district but is also available for use by other groups and organizations. The CMS Astronomy Club meets once a month and hosts open houses for friends and family. |
Other useful websites:
Constellation List (all 88 constellations with information on each) Constellation List (brief overview of each constellation) Helioviewer (cool solar exploration website) 
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OBSERVATORY NEWS:
- 12/2/24 - December is Geminid Meteor time! This month the peak will be the night of December 13-14th. This is one of the best annual meteor showers, however this month it peaks on the night of a nearly full moon. Thankfully, many of the meteors are bright so it should still be a good show! HERE is a good website that provides some details.
- 11/11/24 - November is month for the famous Leonid Meteor Shower. It peaks the morning of the 18th, but be sure to look up in the days before and after! Here is a website with lots of information about it.
- 10/16/24 - Have you seen it? Comet C/2023 A3 is making quite a show! To see it look in the west right after sunset. It is still visible and will be for the next couple of weeks, although it will get dimmer each evening as it speeds back out into space. See our photo gallery for an image or two of it.
- 10/2/24 - Comet Tuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) will be leaving the dawn skies and appearing in the evening skies just after sunset. It may even be visible during the day! Click HERE for more information about where to view the comet in October.
- 9/29/24 Comet Tuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) is already putting on quite a show and the next couple of weeks could get interesting for viewing this comet. Right now it is visible in the predawn eastern sky and is visible with binoculars, but it may brighten considerably. Keep an eye on astronomy news for the latest viewing tips for this comet!
- 8/19/24 - The 2024-25 school year is getting underway. With that, the CMS Astronomy Club will begin its monthly meetings. Check out the Astronomy Club tab on this page for details and meeting dates. As our smokey skies begin to clear, be sure to get out and enjoy our night skies!
- 4/7/24 - The big day is just about here. The CMS Observatory will be open between 11:30 am - 1:30 pm for any who would like to swing by for a look through one of our telescopes fitted with a solar filter. Parking is available on the east side of the school and the observatory is in back of the school (north side). Maximum partial eclipse (46%) should occur at 12:41 pm. In the event that clouds obscure our viewing or if you want to see totality, you can watch it on THIS NASA link.
- 2/20/24 - Do you have plans yet for the April 8, 2024 Total Eclipse? For those who aren't traveling to distant states to see totality, we will have nice views of the partial eclipse, weather permitting. Our view of the eclipse will begin at approximately 11:40AM and will last until around 1:40PM. Stay tuned for observing possibilities from the CMS Observatory. Click HERE to see a nice video animation of how it will look from Cody.
- 2/8/24 - If you have a properly filtered telescope, right now is a great time to view the sun. As we approach solar maximum it is filled with sunspots, prominences, and filaments. One sun spot region is so large, it can reportedly be seen just with eclipse glasses!
- 11/30/23 - This coming month has a couple great events that occur on 12/14/23. This is the peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower. The outlook is good for this shower as the moon will be just 1% full (one day after New) and meteors should be observable all night long. This is also the date of our next monthly Astronomy Club open house and we have Lynn Power as our special guest. She will be sharing with us about meteors and will have some meteorites to see.
- 10/11/23 - This Saturday, October 14th is the annular eclipse. The CMS Observatory will be open from 9:30 am - 12:00 pm for people to visit and observe (weather permitting) the eclipse with our telescopes equipped with solar filters and our solar telescope. We will also have eclipse glasses available. Please stop in at some point and check it out! See the post from 9/21/23 for more information.
- 9/21/23 - On Saturday, October 14th parts of North America will get to enjoy a partial solar eclipse. It is an annular solar eclipse and in our area we will see up to about 70-75% of the sun's disk blocked by the moon. In Cody, the partial eclipse begins at 9:12 AM, it reaches maximum at 10:30 AM and is over at 11:55 AM. THIS website shows the progression of the eclipse.
- 8/12/23 - This weekend is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower and it is shaping up to be a good one, with little interference from the moon. Click HERE for some information on the meteor shower. If you also look at spaceweather.com for Aug. 12 it has good information.
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This video was produced by Cactus Pro Studios for the Park County Travel Council. The series, "Outside Yellowstone", features outdoor activities available in Park County. Episode 4 (shown here) features caving in Cedar Mountain and Stargazing up the North Fork of the Shoshone and from the CMS Observatory! The stargazing portion of the video begins at the 4 minute mark. |
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October 14, 2023 Annular Eclipse This image was taken at the CMS Observatory open house during the 2023 annular eclipse. Over 60 people gathered to enjoy the experience together. |
The "Green Comet" This series of images of comet c2022E3 highlights how quickly it is racing away from Earth and into deep space. The sequence only spans about 15 minutes. Each two-minute exposure was taken through our C-14 SCT using a Canon EOS Rebel T7 camera. The images were taken Feb. 9, 2023 when the comet was only magnitude 6.22.
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