Tampere Observatory 

Welcome

Astronomical Club Tampereen Ursa is made up of an active group of about 400 people who all share interest in stargazing, or in a more scientific approach to the night sky and space.

Our dome and premises are located at the roof of the water tower at City Recreational Sporting area called Kauppi. Location on the map with Etusivu. There are no fixed opening times, however. The premises are open for members during Tuesday club evenings and on (clear) Friday observing nights. Public stargazing events are held once a month on Sundays  from October through March, even when it is cloudy - naturally the main focus then will be on touring the observatory and seeing the planetarium presentation indoors. Most of our star guides speak English satisfactorily but the shows are mainly in Finnish.

During the autumn season of 2024 our observatory is open on Saturday, 21.9.2024 from 19:00 to 22:00 for the national amateur astronomy day open night (no reservations or entry fee). In addition, there are Sunday public stargazing shows on October 13th, November 10th and December 8th at 19:00. Advance reservation is required for attending the Sunday shows. 

When the weather permits, our Celestron Edge HD 1100 and Taurus Telescopes T400 (at wintertime) and Lunt LS100T H-alfa solar telescope (at summertime) are used for observations. And in every case our planetarium software can let you see the sky as it is behind the cloud cover and learn about interesting events and phenomena. Beats staying at the hotel easily!

Booking a private visit

If you are staying a while and you'd like to do something different after a dinner in a restaurant, you can reserve a visit to the Observatory for your group. Your visit can easily be customized for your specific needs and interests. Contact us for more details!

Northern Lights in Tampere

Sometimes foreigners visiting the observatory expect to see the Northern Lights. However, aurora borealis is not a nightly event this far south, so do not expect to see them, but sometimes we get lucky and see green dancing lights in the northern sky! During a good winter we can see the northern lights on average on twenty nights. Often, however, the northern lights are not quite as spectacular as in Lapland, but even moderate northern lights can be thrilling if the person has never previously seen them. During a couple of nights in a decade we see a really amazing auroras, but this happens only when the solar sunspot activity has passed its maximum.

Facilities and equipment are actively used by members

Generally, our facilities and equipment is available without charge for trusted well-known members. So usually there is activity up at the observatory during a clear night, even if down at the ground level the door would be locked. Of course, an observer working at the observatory cannot be required to suspend their project in order to host unexpected visitors, so outside the special open nights or the Sunday stargazing shows, visits are only possible by prior arrangement. The best way to reach us is by email.

Networking around the world

Let us know if you visited our site and let's share links to each other's sites.