Community Observatory

I loved this place. Knowledgeable and friendly volunteers plus super cool telescopes makes for an awesome experience. Highly recommended 👏🏼

DO NOT MISS! How in the world is this not more widely known? Free, amazing docents, and a great venue. Built by the Rotary Club of Cameron Park (disclosure ... I'm a member) I went for my first time and had to pry my children out of there at 930 pm. Great telescopes and a sky theater for open air tours with a laser that is amazing.

I had no idea there was a working observatory nearby. Whata great find! There is an outside mini amphitheatre for use by the observatory for watching stars and planets. The backs of the amphitheatre's bench are built at a 45°angle, so you won't hurt your neck. Nice! I posted the hours.

Great place to get a view of the night sky. It was interesting to see Jupiter, Saturn, a dual star system among other things through the telescopes there. Fun place for kids to get curious about the universe. Good place to learn.

This place is amazing. They have very knowledgeable volunteers, an amphitheater for sky tours, and two large telescopes one of which has a screen for easy viewing. It is also wheelchair accessible. Keep in mind it is quite dark though (for obvious reasons). The pathway up to the observatory is lit but somewhat dimly so just be careful walking up!

No need reservation or tickets. The volunteers are always helpful. A wonderful place to visit.

I'm biassed vecause I'm a Docent. Love this place. 10/10.

Awesome place for the whole family to have fun and learn!

We loved it! The telescopes are wonderful and helped us see Venus, Mars, and the Moon as well as far far away galaxies such as M-51 (Whirlpool Galaxy). The docents were knowledgeable and very welcoming. I highly recommend the observatory (but not with preschool age kids)!

Incredible views of stars and planets with multiple telescopes and the naked eye.

Went here and had a great experience! Be sure to check the website for the hours before you go! They have different hours during the winter and summer, and also base if they will be open on weather as well.

It was great, we got to see Jupiter and Saturn through some big telescopes. I'd recommend this if you have kids interested in, or doing space projects for school. It's very easy to go.

One of my favorite places to go! The volunteers are very informative and has been an enjoyable place to go each time I’ve went.

This place is a hidden gem! I lived in the area for around 6-7 years before I even knew this observatory even existed. Its tucked away in a far corner of the lol placerville branch of Folsom lake college, where you have to take a relatively short walk up a trail to get away from the light pollution. It is well worth the visit, and I highly recommend that anyone in the area check it out, at least once. It really is an awesome experience, and it's free! Can't beat that!
There are several educated amateur astronomy lovers that volunteer to guide you through the experience, they give a tour of the sky, pointing out constellations, stars, and planets, with a high powered green laser pointer, and telling you about various things in the sky. After the talk, they have a few giant high powered telescopes set up looking at the moon, and various stars and/or planets, etc. You can line up and take turns to look in each scope, which is accompanied by a volunteer who can tell you a little something about what you're looking at. Inside the building, there are a couple insanely huge telescopes pointed up at the ceiling, which is actually retracted, so the ceiling is open, pointed at more cool sky attractions to view. They also have a couple tv size monitors in there that show you what the biggest scope is pointed at in deep space. It's really cool stuff to witness.

Amazing volunteers. Did not expect but there were 10-15 families at 10 pm on Friday night. All telescopes showed amazing stars. The laser show was awesome where they give you a rundown of night sky - it was informative and funny.
There is a parking on left side where gps takes you - from there there is a small walk on trail to get to the observatory.
We couldn’t see any planets 🪐 in July since they come up late at night . They said winter or say October may be best to see planets like Saturn in 2022.

closed. but such a cool place to hang out with friends

We live in Folsom and had no idea this place was here. Stopped by last night and had a great experience. Volunteers are knowledgeable and passionate about astronomy. Had a great view of the moon through multiple telescopes and got to see the "Whirlpool galaxy" live on the computer display. Also had a sky mapping lecture that was very informative and interesting.

We had a great time here and very informative experience. The volunteers are very knowledgeable. We saw spaceship blinking by and my husband and son saw couple shooting stars.

The views are great due to the isolation from the city lights. The docents were very knowledgable and excited to talk about the night sky. Will definitely come back soon.

I love this spot anytime of the day but if you are a stargazer they have a really cool Sky viewing area and on certain Fridays and Saturday nights they have telescopes that you are welcome to look at for free althoug. we always put a donation in the Box because it's worth it. Super educational and very fun. I haven't done it but it would probably be a pretty neat first date spot if you planned it right

This place is wonderful, I have had the pleasure of going here since I was 10 and every year they improve!

My favorite part is the fact that the volunteers truly love space and do their best to educate everyone that comes.

AND it's free!