About - F.O.T.O. - Friends of the Observatory (FOTO)

Friends of the Observatory (FOTO)

Friends of the Observatory (FOTO) is the Observatory’s amateur astronomy group. FOTO has been integral to the organization since the inception of the Cincinnati Observatory Center in 1999. Along with several neighbors and community members, FOTO members helped save the Observatory from potential demolition, as the Center shifted its mission to one of preservation and education.

FOTO members host a meeting on the 2nd Monday of each month featuring an astronomy topic and speaker (see details for next meeting below), and all Observatory members are invited. In addition, FOTO hosts social events including a holiday dinner and an annual picnic. All Observatory members are welcome to participate in FOTO activities and programs as a benefit of membership. It's a great group for all, especially those wanting to learn more about astronomy and space science!

FOTO leadership this year includes:

Valerie Niemi, Chair

Michael Schock, Vice Chair

Mike Brown, Secretary

Bonnie Speeg, Treasurer

FOTO helps in several areas, including giving tours of the Observatory, leading programming, conducting historical research, and planning the 2nd Monday FOTO meetings, which again are open to all Observatory members. FOTO also runs the Stonelick Stargazers dark sky viewing events at Stonelick State Park. The group is a great support to the organization, sharing the wonders of the universe with thousands of people every year alongside Observatory staff.

To join as a member and participate in all that the Observatory - and FOTO - have to offer, click here!

Next Meeting

Jun 8, 2026

7:30pm

A Tale of Two Exoplanets: What We Know and How We Know It.

In the last 30 years, more than 6,000 planets have been discovered beyond our solar system. Despite the fact that 99% of them are so far away that we can’t even see them with our best telescopes, we know a remarkable amount about them: their distance, size, mass, age, bulk composition, orbital period and eccentricity , temperature, and even the constituents of their atmospheres. This lecture will explain how astronomers know what they know by considering a case study of two very different exoplanets: TRAPPIST-1e and HR-8799e. We will finish a look into the lecturer’s current research on the atmospheres of a directly imaged exoplanet (VHS-1256b) and a transiting exoplanet (TOI-2031b) using the James Webb Space Telescope.

Upcoming FOTO Meetings and Topics

July 13 - Particle Physics -Aaron Eiben

August 10 - Titan and other Planetary Atmospheres - Sarah Hörst. Johns Hopkins Univ.

September 14 - Members Picnic

October 12 - Space Age before the Space Race - Terry Endres

November 6 - SuperMoons and why They're not - Chuck Strubbe

December 14 - Holiday Party- Why Astronomers shouldn't Name Things -Austin Hinkle, Thomas More

2027

January 11, 2027- The Mount Lookout Observatory and the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey (USC&GS)