Located in the middle of Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge, 50 miles east of downtown Atlanta, the observatory is a resource for professional and amateur astronomers, away from the light pollution of Atlanta, Conyers, and Covington. An additional service of HLCO has been to the public, bringing the wonders of the Universe to Georgia residents monthly through our open house program. HLCO is open monthly from March to October. Free parking, includes limited accessible parking. Download the HLCO Flyer and feel free to distribute it.

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For information and potential bookings outside of free public nights, please email the HLCO director, Professor Fabien Baron.

What you will see

Provided the weather permits observations, you will be able to look through our telescopes:

• The McAlister telescope, a PlaneWave CDK700 0.7m Telescope
• The Miller telescope, a PlaneWave 24″ Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph Telescope
• The front pad telescopes, several smaller-sized telescopes

Note: all open houses are weather dependent and will be cancelled in the event of rain or completely overcast weather.