David Cole Observatory

David Cole Observatory is a small educational observatory on the grounds of Barnstable High School in Hyannis, Massachusetts, built to give students hands-on access to a working telescope.

About David Cole Observatory

The observatory is owned and operated by Barnstable High School and named after David Cole, the longtime trustee of the Enoch Cobb trust fund, whose support helped make it possible. Because it sits on school grounds, students have direct access to the building and its equipment as part of their education.

Telescopes & research

The observatory houses one main telescope inside its dome, and the grounds outside include mounts for four additional telescopes, allowing group observing sessions or classes to use several instruments side by side rather than queuing for a single eyepiece.

Location & getting there

David Cole Observatory is located within the Barnstable High School campus in Hyannis, Massachusetts, part of Cape Cod in the North America region of the United States.

Visiting David Cole Observatory

As a school-operated facility, access is generally tied to Barnstable High School's own programs and events rather than open public hours. If you'd like to visit, check with the school directly for any scheduled public observing nights.

See your named star from here

With one dome telescope and four extra mounts, David Cole Observatory can already point several instruments at once, so adding one more target, your own named star, is no stretch. Name a star through star-register.eu and you'll get its RA/Dec coordinates to share with the observatory or any telescope owner. Browse more of the sky in our star catalogue.