Experience the Cosmos with HALO

The Compass Rose Lodge in the Ogden Valley houses one of the most interesting and unique amenities in any hotel in Utah: Their on-site Observatory and Huntsville Astronomic and Lunar Observatory (HALO), which offers the rare experience of viewing neighboring stars and astronomical wonders with their Starwalk Tour. 

For their hands-on experience, HALO hosts a nightly star tour with telescopes, including an 11-inch Celestron Edge11 HD. This telescope provides clear and focused views of many astronomy targets, including the Moon, planets, and deep-sky objects such as large nebulae and galaxies!

The Observatory's 16-inch aperture Ritchey-Chretien style telescope is designed with hyperbolic shaped mirrors, similar to the Hubble Space Telescope, which offers an exceptionally flat view of objects. This flat view helps in avoiding image distortions introduced by many other amateur telescopes. The telescope is also perched on a Paramount mount, which provides a great degree of accuracy when tracking celestial objects. 

If you weren't convinced yet, the summer is the best for viewing the dark sky. From June through August, the Earth is positioned in a way where the core of the Milky Way is most visible throughout the night! Additionally, it's less likely for clouds to interfere with your view.

HALO offers tours at an affordable price, with their adult tickets costing $20 plus tax, while kids (12 and under) tickets cost $15 plus tax. The tours, with a maximum capacity of six participants, also include discounts for hotel guests.

If you do have a larger group, there's no need to worry, HALO is able to accommodate your group if you make proper arrangements in advance. If you are doing a couple's getaway, HALO tries to avoid pairing you with a group of folks looking for family fun.

Subscribe to the Visit Ogden newsletter for monthly and seasonal newsletters packed with exciting itineraries, local events, things to do, and so much more! Click here to subscribe.