Calling all aspiring astronomers: A new observatory has just opened near Smith Rock State Park

(Update: Adding video, comments from astronomer)

TERREBONNE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A new observatory, part of The Spot at Smith Rock, has opened beside Smith Rock State Park. Visitors can see the Milky Way, Orion's Belt and many more celestial wonders from a 360-degree telescope.

The Asterisk Observatory offers short educational presentations, private constellation tours and multiple-night stays.

The observatory features a 17” PlaneWave telescope on an L-500 mount. The telescope is housed in a structure with a roll-off roof offering a 360° view of the night sky and surrounding skyline. They also have an auxiliary 8” Dobsonian telescope.

"So we just watch the sky and have a constellation tour and do stargazing, and then we come into the observatory here and look through the telescope and have an astronomy program," Dr. Cassandra Fallscheer said Thursday.

Fallscheer is the founder of the Asterisk Observatory and has been working on the project for nearly two years. She says the High Desert is the perfect spot to catch the Milky Way.

"The neat thing and the special thing about Central Oregon is that the skies here are very dark. As soon as you get out of the Bend,-Redmond and a little bit of Madras area as well, the night sky is very, very dark. "

Visitors can spend multiple nights on the property and get a special one-on-one tour of the sky. 

"There's a lot of people that come to Smith Rock for hiking or rock climbing," Fallscheer said, "so you can come to stay overnight, look through the telescope, and then in the morning get up and go climb rocks or go for a hike."

You can learn more about the observatory and book a night's stay at www.asteriskobservatory.org