Thank you for your interest in visiting the Bradley Observatory at Agnes Scott College!
The Bradley Observatory (84 17 38.98 W, 33 45 54.84 N) is an astronomical teaching and research facility located on the campus of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. The observatory, named in honor of William C. and Sarah Hall Bradley, contains the 70-seat Delafield Planetarium and a 100-seat capacity lecture hall.
The building also contains a library/seminar room, three faculty offices, a darkroom, a student computer lab, and an observing plaza for astronomical viewing. The large dome atop the observatory houses the 20-inch Lewis H. Beck telescope.
The observatory is available for visits/toursto groups of 20 or more.Tours are conducted by student and faculty volunteers and are given during the academic school year, September through April. Tour times are subject to the availability of the student and faculty volunteers.
The one-hour tour includes the planetarium show, visit to the observatory telescope and an explanation of how it works, and a talk on the plaza which has a scaled down version of the solar system in the pavers. Our tour guides will also answer any questions your students may have. We generally follow the Georgia Science Standards for second, fourth, and sixth grades, but if there are other topics the teachers would like to cover, we can accommodate those requests with some notice.
FEE SCHEDULE
Fees for observatory visits help to support maintenance of the telescopes and the Open House series.
$2 per person, students and chaperones, forprivate schools and home schooled groups (September through April only. One chaperone per every 10-12 students), and private groups (Scouts, community groups, etc.). There is no charge for public schools and city of Decatur schools.
Free admission for the Open House series.
Payment should be made by check only, made payable to Agnes Scott College, andshould be mailed prior to the visit.
Agnes Scott College
141 E. College Avenue
Decatur, GA 30030
ATTN: Amy Whitworth, Bullock Science Center, (404)-471-6368
PARKING
Handicapped accessible parking is available adjacent to the observatory. There is free on–street parking along E. Dougherty St. or in our Public Safety parking deck located on S. McDonough St.
School buses may drop off students in the S. McDonough St. parking lot adjoining Gellerstedt Field and the Byers Tennis Courts. The sidewalk to Bradley Observatory is found between the Woodruff Physical Activities building and Gellerstedt Field, to the left (south) side of E. Dougherty St.
Please refer to our campus map for parking information: