History

Construction

The UMBC Observatory was first opened just before the Summer of 1999. It was funded as part of the UMBC Physics Building construction. It was originally conceived by Professor-Emeritus Dr. Harvey Melfi–the then director of the Joint Center for Earthsystems Technology (JCET). After Dr. Melfi’s retirement, duty of care was passed to a core group of faculty at UMBC that continue to administer the UMBC Observatory Group and its projects.

 

2000-2013

First Light
Second Light

2013-2020

Start of Pandemic

 

2022-Present

Third Light