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I took a trip through our solar system today in about an hour and a half. I did take along my camera to share what I found along the way!

Not only can you travel through the solar system in New Milford, CT, but did you know we have a world class observatory here too? The John J. McCarthy Observatory, located on the grounds of New Milford High School on Rt. 7, was dedicated and turned over to the New Milford Board of Education on December 2, 2000. The observatory is open to the public as well as to the students of New Milford, CT, with no charge for its use. The observatory also is fully equipped for the disabled. There are 3 telescopes, a weather station, video cameras, a film camera, CCD cameras, an adaptive optics unit and much more!

On November 15th, 2009, the John J. McCarthy Observatory in New Milford, CT put up a Scale Solar System. I started at Schaghtichoke Middle School with the representation of our galexy and ended up with the sun just outside the John J. McCarthy Observatory. What great fun it was and I got some good shots of our solar system. There are driving directions at the observatory website, as well as more information on the display.

I learned some things I never knew, I relearned things I forgot such as, poor Pluto is no longer a plant, but a plutoid. How about that? And in case you were wondering, I did see a few UFO's, but as always my camera was not ready. Maybe next time!

I do plan to get to the observatory to "observe" the skies over New Milford, CT soon and report back. In the meantime, please enjoy my slide show of my trip through our solar system!