While space isn't our expertise as meteorologists, we hear from so many of you that you enjoy seeing space topics here and on the news. Whether you consider yourself a casual observer or a more focused student of the stars, you may be interested to know there are a few local libraries officering telescope rentals!
The Louisville Astronomical Society has partnered with several local libraries to offer this program, and member of the Society are supporting this program, educating staff and patrons at the libraries about these telescopes and making sure they stay well-maintained.
The equipment is an Orion Starblast Newtonian tabletop reflector that will allow users to see " the planets and some of the brighter deep sky objects such as the Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy." If that sounds a little too technical for you, worry not! LAS says, "alterations to the telescopes have been made to make them more user friendly and easier to maintain."
You do need to have a library card from the Louisville Free Public Library and be at least 18 years old to "check out" a telescope which will also come with an instruction manual, constellation book and head lamp for you to use.
LAS says they do hope to grow this program, but for now here's where you can find these telescopes around our area and how many are at each location (this information was last updated by LAS in May 2021):
Southern Indiana
- New Albany Floyd County Library (1)
- Jeffersonville Township Public Library (1)
- Clarksville Branch of Jeffersonville Township Public Library (1)
Louisville
- Louisville Free Public Library 301 York Street (1)
- Southwest Regional branch 9725 Dixie Highway (2)
- South Central Regional branch 7300 Jefferson Blvd (2)
- Northeast Regional branch 15 Bellevoir Circle (1)
LaRue County Public Library (1)
