The Backyard Telescope: Stargazing from The Perkin Observatory at Dublin School
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Sky sightings and astronomical data are what make The Old Farmer’s Almanac, North America’s most popular reference guide, a true almanac, a “calendar of the heavens.” How fitting that the Almanac’s small town of Dublin, New Hampshire, is also home to the new Perkin Observatory at Dublin School.
It is a privilege to have such a powerful tool that’s practically in our backyard and such a friendly neighbor in Dublin School, which shares the telescope with its community.
The rural Dublin sky offers fantastic views and the Perkin Observatory is stunning, with a 16.5-foot dome, a 14-inch main telescope, a variety of smaller, specialized telescopes, and a stargazing patio.
Enjoy these beautiful photos of celestial objects by Dublin School teachers and students!
The 14-inch Celestron telescope at the Perkin Observatory.
Credit: Meghan Pierce, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Featured Photo: Jupiter With Moons

The title is pretty self-explanatory. There are four moons in a straight line. The other bright spots are stars. Galileo first saw these in 1610. He thought that they were stars at first and named them the ‘Medicean Stars’ after a family that patronized him. Eventually, he noticed that they rearrange themselves around Jupiter regularly and deduced that they must be orbiting it. This was the first clear demonstration that there were bodies orbiting an object besides Earth. It thus dealt a blow to the church-sponsored view that Earth is the center of everything. It also got Galileo in a lot of trouble! Photographs like this are a little difficult, as Jupiter is far brighter than its moons, which is why there is such a variation in brightness in the picture.
–Jonathan Weis (teacher)
Dublin School
Awakening a curiosity for knowledge and a passion for learning is the mission of Dublin School, an independent college preparatory school located in rural New Hampshire. The Perkin Observatory fits that mission, providing an opportunity to fundamentally deepen our insights and broaden our imaginations. Now we have access to vast gas clouds and brilliant star clusters unimagined without a telescope, and galaxies of a remoteness that surpasses any understanding. The Perkin Observatory is transforming science at Dublin by transforming our ability to see the world beyond us. Learn more about Dublin School!
Photo: The Perkin Observatory at Dublin School. Credit: David Drucker
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