About Us

For decades the Westport Astronomical Society has been bringing the wonders of the night sky to the thousands that have visited the Westport Observatory. We’re a non-profit organization, run entirely by our 150+ volunteer members – teachers, astronomers, researchers, enthusiasts, and technicians who specialize in such fields as physics, computers, optics, photography, and lasers. All of us are dedicated to teaching people of all ages about astronomy at our observatory in southwestern Connecticut. Through regular public nights, monthly lectures, special classes and workshops, and opportunities to engage with citizen science, we continue a proud legacy that we began in 1975.

We maintain and operate the Westport Observatory through the hard work of our members. Our Tower Observatory, the most prominent building on our campus, is housed at the top of the 40-foot South tower, and contains a 14″ EdgeHD. An additional tower on the north end of our campus is home to various ham radio antennas for K1WAS, our amateur radio club. Two smaller buildings at the center of the campus are home to our classroom, the Fred Bump Education Center where our monthly lectures and other special programs are held, and the WAS office, containing our library of books, a restroom, and storage.

WAS also owns an incredible Obsession 25-inch Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, one of the largest publicly accessible telescopes in the state. This enormous instrument provides amazing views of deep-sky objects is frequently setup for public nights and is often transported to dark-sky sites and star parties.