Once a month, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles hosts free star parties, where you can gaze at stars and planets that comprise our universe.
Last updated: February 18, 2025
Learn and Connect in LA
LA is a great place to live. Not because of Hollywood and all the glamor associated with it. But because, with all the resources poured into the city, it offers some of the most incredible opportunities to learn, grow, and connect, outside of the movie industry.
At the same time, Los Angeles is far from being a perfect city. It lacks some of the essential elements that people somewhere in less polluted areas may take for granted. Things like stars in the sky. Yes, you can hardly see any on a regular night. But what you can see goes far beyond the scope of the naked eye. You can see planets.
And what better place to steal a glimpse of our universe than the Griffith Observatory. Once a month, the lawns in front of the grand white building with a copper-clad planetarium dome get filled with telescopes, pointing their massive eyes at various planets and stars.
Griffith Observatory Star Nights
The Griffith Observatory Star Nights can be starless if you look at the sky with the bare eye. With the exception of the Moon, the easily detectable red star, as Mars is known, and a few solitary stars, the great arena above this Southern California city is mostly black.
The lawn also submerges into the darkness. Yet similar to the universe itself, it’s bustling. Like a buzzing beehive with the bees you don’t see but hear, visitors roam across the front yard, making a beeline from one telescope to another.
Before the darkness descends upon the Griffith Observatory ground, most of these telescopes look at the Moon. Now they change their focal points, some tuning their colossal eye-lenses to Venus, others looking at the signature rings that identify Saturn.
Griffith Observatory Free Star Party
Inside the Griffith Observatory, the simulations of the sky are ever present. Numerous interactive exhibits showcasing different features of the universe, such as our solar system or daily or seasonal changes that take place on Earth in response to its position to Sun and Moon.
Free programs often add detailed explanations to the interactive displays. The star party is one of these free events. It takes place in the front yard of the Griffith Observatory one Saturday a month. The stargazing program starts at 2:00 p.m. and ends by 9:45 p.m., 15 minutes prior to the closing time of the building.
The Griffith Observatory doesn’t allow the operation of private, unauthorized telescopes. The star parties are held with the assistance of volunteers from the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society.
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