When the St. Charles County Parks Department of Missouri began development of their new Broemmelsiek Park, they gave the county community something very unique, a dedicated site for Astronomy.
The site, which is free and open to the public, features 24/7 access, with 9 paved telescope stations each with 20-amp electrical service for telescopes that can benefit from electrical power, a patio entrance area for non-powered telescopes, as well as connecting sidewalks. There is also ample paved parking, a water fountain, and accessible restrooms. The Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri (ASEM) hosts public star gazing events at this site. If telescope "seeing" conditions are good for the evening (i.e., the skies are not totally clouded out), each Friday night is an "Open House" of the Observatory (seen in the top photo, left of center, in the background), and usually of other scopes provided by members of ASEM as well. In addition, special observing events are also scheduled through out the year. For the members and the public, be sure to check the St Charles County Parks Events page for special astronomical event observing that ASEM will support as well. ASEM members should also check the calendar, near the bottom of the ASEM's website (opening page) and news bulletins, near the top of the page, for any other special observing or digital imaging get togethers.
The observatory building contains a mounted Celestron telescope which is used at public star gazing events and is available to ASEM members for personal studies and astro-photography. There is a 16-in Dobsonian telescope also used at public programs and available to ASEM members for personal use on other occasions. The site is on Schwede Road at Wilson Road in central St. Charles County. See maps and link to Google
Maps, below.
Geo-coordinates:
Latitude: 38.72300 degrees (North)
Longitude: -90.81479 degrees (West)
Google Maps
Google Maps Link
(Written street directions are available on the St.Charles County Parks Events page) |