New Jersey Astronomical Association

Category: Observatory

Address: Voorhees State Park #1, Observatory Rd, High Bridge, NJ 08829, USA

Phone: +19086388500

Opening hours

Sunday: 2–5PM

Monday: Closed

Tuesday: Closed

Wednesday: Closed

Thursday: Closed

Friday: Closed

Saturday: 8:30–10:30PM

Reviews

Hardeep Parwal

Oct 27, 2022

Awesome, saw Jupiter, Saturn.

Chelsea Nixon

Aug 28, 2022

Absolutely loved my trip to NJAA. Camped at the Vorheese State Park and walked through the trails to arrive for the 8:30 presentation. I quietly wiped tears from my eyes so amazed at the science behind the presentation. Learning about the discovery of Pluto and viewing the star Deneb through the telescope inside the observatory was absolutely breath taking. The members were all so welcoming and knowledgable.. I cannot wait to go back again and use their pointers to add to our telescope wish list 😊

Kathy Pacheco-Rodriguez

Aug 16, 2022

We've visited this place a couple of times and every time we come back we amazed with the experience. We've seen, Saturn, Mars, the Moon, constellations etc. Yesterday we got to see a huge star "The sun" !! It was amazing again 😊 I definitely recommend this place and please bring the little ones 😉

Mark Anthony

Jul 5, 2022

The center is a hidden gem. The members were very welcoming and excited to give us a tour of the observatory. My wife and 10 year old son loved it. We first saw the Sun through a special telescope where we saw solar flares shooting out of the sun. Then we got a tour of all the different telescopes they use and what makes them better for looking at different parts of our solar system. Finally, we saw the big telescope. It would have been fun to come at night to look through the big one, but it was cloudy the night we could go. I highly recommend going and even becoming a member. The membership is roughly $40 for the year.

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Questions & Answers

Is there an open field to bring your own scope?

joseph griscavage | Oct 29, 2019
Keith Marley | Oct 29, 2019

Only members can get on the property as there is a locked gate blocking the driveway. You can join by going on their website www.njaa.org and look for the online application. Besides supporting a great public outreach group, members also get other benefits as detailed on the site. Check it out.

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Who designed and built the telescope for the park.

Mervin Rohrer | Oct 29, 2018
New Jersey Astronomical Association | Oct 29, 2018

The Telescope originally came from the University of Indiana. It is was a 24" Schwarzchild telescope designed and build in the 1920s, it was used for research by Professor Cogshall. The original 7 founders of NJAA heard about the scope. It had been disassembled and not used in years. They were able to acquire it for the price of scrap steel. Once the scope was in NJ, it was disassembled completely , cleaned and restored with one exception.. The mirror.. The 7 founders wanted a slightly bigger mirror and wanted to convert the scope to a Cassigrain style scope. The founders heard of a large mirror blank that had been shipped over from Germany and was sitting on NY dock . They were able to get the mirror blank for the price of shipping. It took two years for it to be grind and polish by members to make it perfect for a telescope. When the primary mirror was completed the scope was put into use for the public. . For more information check out our website at NJAA.ORG.

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