First Light Festival: Celebrating 140 years of DePauw University’s McKim Observatory

In the summer of 1885, the McKim Observatory building was completed and its signature instrument, the Clark refracting telescope, was installed.

First Light, the important event when a newly constructed telescope is first pointed at the night sky for viewing, occurred on August 26, 1885. For 140 years McKim Observatory has brought views of the night sky to DePauw students, faculty and staff, and to the residents of Greencastle, Putnam County and beyond. We are celebrating this heritage during the fall semester with a series of events.

On August 26, 2025, the 140th anniversary of first light, DePauw Professors Howard Brooks, Mary Kertzman and Alex Komives will give a presentation about the early history of McKim Observatory at the Putnam County Museum. We will explore the circumstances that led to DePauw building a state-of-the-art observatory and talk about the historical significance of the instruments it houses. We will look at the early work done at the observatory and conclude with information about the special anniversary open houses at the observatory this fall.

To celebrate this anniversary, we are holding extra public open houses during the fall. Our typical monthly open house showcases the Moon and any bright planets (this fall Saturn will take the stage).  The additional open houses this fall will be on dark, moonless nights. The observing program for these dark night open houses will be inspired by Wilbur Vincent Brown’s observing notebooks from his first year as the Assistant Director of McKim Observatory. A special feature of the fall open houses is a display of a small collection of artifacts from the early days of the observatory. These items are on loan from DePauw Archives and will only be on display this fall.

New this fall we will have small group guided tours of the observatory prior to some of the open houses. The tour is approximately 45 minutes and is limited to 10 people. The tour is free, but registration is required. Information about tour registration will be on the McKim Observatory Open House webpage: https://www.depauw.edu/academics/departments-programs/physics-astronomy/mckim-observatory/astronomy-open-house/

When visiting please note that while McKim Observatory is an excellent example of a historic observatory, it is not ADA compliant, and it lacks the modern convenience of a restroom. Parking is available on the street.

Open House schedule Fall 2025

(All dates are Friday evenings)

August 29, 8:30 – 10:00 pm, Moon and bright sky targets

September 19, 8:45 – 10:15 pm, Dark sky targets

October 3, 8:00 – 10:00 pm, Moon and Saturn

October 24, 8:00 – 10:00 pm., Dark sky targets

November 14, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Saturn and dark sky targets

December 5, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Saturn and Moon