Robert Ferguson Observatory

I’m a lifelong amateur student of astronomy — this was such a great find! Everyone there is so knowledgeable and friendly. My husband and I went to one of the star parties. It was a little overcast that day, but still good viewing. I can’t imagine how nice it would be on a super clear summer night.

I carefully read some of the other Unilocal reviews to make sure we could prepare properly for one of the Saturday Star Parties, particularly Rinky N’s. I found them all helpful but as they were from last year I have some updates:
— Although the road is not well marked, once you get on Adobe Canyon Road, there’s basically one way to go. GPS will get you there fine, and it might help (but is not necessary) to have this link pulled up:
— About 3.5 miles down Adobe Canyon Road, you get to the park entry kiosk, where you buy your tickets and a guy will direct you further down the road. You go straight, get to the «horse corrals» (basically a barn), where they collect your ticket and tell you where to park.
— The short walkway from the parking area up to the observatory (a couple hundred yards?) is lit with cones, so it’s not necessary but perhaps useful to bring flashlights/​headlamps. Now they actually provide red cellophane at the horse corrals so it’s fine to bring regular lighting. However, DONT BE THE GUY WHO TURNS ON HIS CELL PHONE AND BLINDS EVERYONE WHILE THEY’RE ABOUT TO LOOK THROUGH THE TELESCOPE.
— They provide homemade chili, salsa, chips, and pastries! We got there about 9:05pm and there was only chili (warmed in a slowcooker), and chip crumbs (making the salsa kind of useless) left. They had also just started the presentation.
— We went on a cloudy night and there were only about 40 people. They didn’t even have the telescopes set up. HOWEVER, we lucked out — they were keeping an eye on the sky and a hole opened up in the clouds on the eastern side. They opened the roof for their two most powerful telescopes and had everyone look at Jupiter. You could see its 4 moons and if you squinted, its two stripes!
— Steve was beyond HILARIOUS. He is a huge nerd, and proud of it. I came with a bunch of engineers/​scientists who are fellow alumni of my also nerdy school, so we really enjoyed his jokes. There is a bit of back and forth/​quipping between the docents — they obviously know each other well and have a great time at their job.
— They let us choose what we wanted presentations on (supernova!) and the powerpoints were a good balance of being accessible but not glossing over the technical stuff.
Overall a good time! I’m actually glad we didn’t come on a clear night when apparently up to 300 people can show up. A lot of the docents bring their own telescopes and set them up in front of the observatory, but I imagine there’d be just lots of lines for everything and I’m not really one to love dealing with crowds.

This place is a gem. I found out about it by searching for public observatories online. The classes sound cool and I finally came here for the Monday night lunar eclipse. It was easier to find this place than I thought which was a relief. The only tip I have is that there are actually two green gates. One is miles before the other one so keep driving if you come to the first one. The star gazing night was well organized and the lectures and all the other learning opportunities are totally worth the entrance fee. This is accessible to people who are handicapped and there are indoor and outdoor restrooms. Byo food if you know you’ll get hungry. Cannot wait to go again.

Although some of us grew up in the shadow of Griffith Park Observatory in LA or other large observatories, don’t dismiss the Ferguson Observatory.
They offer classes, star parties, docent training and a venue for your special event.
It is small but it is lovingly staffed by knowledgeable docents.
We recently attended one of their star parties.
The evening began with a lecture by two very enthusiastic and well informed docents, Steve and Rachel. They had a couple of topics including facts about the planets and constellations. I learned so much from them. I’m not a big fan of astronomy but these two docents ignited something inside of me!
There were two telescopes located in different parts of the observatory.
One had a viewing camera and the other was focused on the Jupiter and it’s moons.
There are four primary ones… I don’t remember their names just the mnemonic
phrase (IEGC-​I eat graham crackers)
There were also several amateur astronomers who brought their scopes to share.
Mr Rinky and son looked through them but I passed since it was pitch dark and I have trouble with walking.
The night sky was brilliant! There are no lights for miles to interfere with seeing the night sky. I haven’t seen such a spectacular sky since I was camping eons ago.
fyi
The observatory is a little difficult to find — poor to nonexistent signage.
We used GPS. The observatory is located within Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.
When you reach the SRSP entrance you’ll pay an $ 8 entrance fee along with
admission to the observatory.
The SRSP also has a campground from which you can walk to the observatory.
You are allowed to use flashlights ONLY if they have a red bulb or red cellophane.
Regular light throws off peoples’ night vision. Even the bathrooms in the classroom area have red lights only.
When we first sat down to the lectures there were only 10 – 12 people but within
a half hour dozens and dozens of people appeared! So be prepared for this–
long lines to view the observatory’s telescopes.
It is worth the trip even without viewing the telescopes to see the night sky
in full glory!

What a fantastick experience in every way possible. All ages. The best educational and «out of this world» journey in the bay Area.

I first learned about the observatory through taking the Night Sky Series classes. These classes are taught by the incredible encyclopedia of knowledge, Jack Welch. If you take the entire series (18 classes over the course of a year) you get presentations on all the major constellations and their contents that appear in the sky on any given night. Each night after the lecture you are set loose to observe the night’s topics through any of the scopes that are being operated that evening by volunteer docents. I can’t recommend the Night Sky class enough to anyone who has an interest in Astronomy and our place in the Universe. Other ways you can experience RFO is by attending one of the public nights, enrolling in an observing lab, or reserving the observatory privately for a night!
The Observatory mainly consists of a lobby/​classroom, the West Wing containing a 24″ dobsonian reflector telescope, the East Wing containing a 14″ CCD telescope for research level digital imaging, and a dome covered 9″ refractor. Restrooms are available. Also during any of the events, the parking lot should be lined with docents who have brought their personal telescopes for more viewing options.
Really it is a lot of fun. Do see for yourself.

The telescope observatory was envisioned, designed, engineered, partially funded & built by Robert Ferguson & many members of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society back in the 1980’s. Bob was the spark plug for the Society for many, many years. He was a great community asset & a great friend.
To learn about public viewing nights at the telescope observatory see:
for the schedule.

I’ve been going here since I had a class with Dr. Cool in an Observational Astronomy class in 2000 and I keep coming back. There is a forty inch telescope to look through that someone made lovingly. This place is beautiful and the docents breathe life into the study of Astronomy making it tangible, impressive, understandable, and the docents are just as in awe as you are. I saw one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen through that large telescope. Off of HWY 12 and past vineyards, this place is a gem to be respected and loved. Donate to the Valley of the Moon Association to help the docents keep this organization that keeps this place vital for many more years to come. I recommend consulting with the
website and checking with the Sugarloaf Ridge State Park for weather conditions and directions. I also recommend camping here overnight if you plan to stay late for night observation, since the road to get here to the park is windy and not a good one to go down at night, unless you drive it with care and slowly. NOTE: Road not advised after going to DYL. Just another nerdy public health nursing PSA.
UPDATE!!! 1/​19/​07-​five days after a cool experience at RFO
so people! this went off well! Cris, Mary, and I had a blast!
Two of the docents were like Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, the odd couple of astronomy as they bickered about an deep space open star cluster. It was chilly, but nothing a down coat, warm gloves and hat, and long johns and lots and lots of hot cocoa can’t cure! Oh thank God for the space heater in the observatory!
We saw some really cool stuff from a bivy of excellent collection of telescopes-​Newtownians, Dobsinians, and Cassegrains. I think our favorite would have to be the twenty inch telescope where we saw the Orion Nebula which was beautiful. My other favorite was a star cluster that looked like a smiley face-​Cris and Mary dubbed it the Monkey Cluster. awww, how cute! We also saw Saturn and a blip of her magnificent sized rings. The brightest star in the sky, Sirius from the constellation Canus Major (aka the big dog) with a magnitude of –1, which is hella bright loomed in the southeastern sky. After a fun and inspirational time, we retired to the campsite my mother helped us set up. We had a caravan size tent with a space heater, three cots, lots of blankets, and an eating space since the wind was picking up outside. The official word would be cozy. We made Chicken Masala on the Coleman campstove and at like Kings and Queens as Unilocalers should. After a nice meal and hot tea and washing the face with some warm water and a nice warm up next to a wonderful fire, we retired and slept like little Unilocal larva on our cots. The wind howled but it was no match for our mammoth size tent and well-​prepared warm fleshy bodies. In the summer, we could bring more people, easily three or four more and sleep on the ground in the big ass tent. in the meantime, check out my next rfo thread for spring observations and comet updates.