On 20 August each year, the Cronyn Observatory holds a special public night celebrating the historical and cultural heritage of this Observatory — the building, its instruments, and the people who have looked through them since 1940. [Read about A Cosmic Treasury and how it got its name.]

This first evening is held in memory of Mark Tovey, Curator of the Observatory from 2015 until his death in January 2026, on what would have been his birthday. [Read more about Mark]

The Observatory’s three “time machines” — the period rooms Mark designed, recreated as they once might have been — will be open, with guides on hand to tell the story of how they were made. And when skies are clear, the telescopes will run until 11:00pm, including the 1940 refractor.

Free and drop-in. If it is cloudy, the evening goes ahead indoors.

Western will lower the flag at University College to half mast that day in Mark’s honour.