I wouldn't recommend the private planetarium experience. It felt like a waste of money...the technology was outdated and we spent a lot of time waiting for the guide to figure things out. read more

We went with three generations. The children enjoyed it the most. During the day, we had an opportunity to look at the sun through a special telescope. There are also amazing views at night at the observatory. It is a fun outing that will last an hour or two. If you are only interested in night observation the observatory also has evening events. The staff and volunteers are very knowledgeable and friendly. I recommend stopping by. read more

Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory - The special sun telescope. - Observatories Near Me - Sunriver, Oregon

Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory is probably gear to children or people with a child like heart. My wife and I love the experience. read more

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Surprised my astronomy nut husband with the public in-depth observatory experience and we had an amazing time! we listened to a fun talk on the inner planets before getting to look through about 15 telescopes at stars and nebulas and galaxies. It started out a bit cloudy but all of the workers did a great job finding things to look at. Then it cleared up a lot for the last half hour and we for some great views of the constellations. Overall amazing experience, would do again! read more

Terrific non-profit educational center with a fantastic observatory and educated, friendly staff. Even on an August night, we braved the 40 degree temps to see the night sky through their many (donated) telescopes and hear all about the different configurations of stars, clusters, constellations and planets. I didn't know Jupiter had four moons! (Or if I did know, I'd forgotten) The staff was super friendly, knowledgeable and helpful, and it was amazingly easy to maneuver a sizeable group of folks in complete darkness. The Sun River Nature Center and Observatory was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Sunriver. read more

Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory - Observatories Near Me - Sunriver, Oregon

This little nature center is the perfect place to visit while in Sunriver! My kids love seeing all the different birds up close and hearing all the unique stores as to how they came to the nature center. We also love the day camps! We have done the rocket camp and solar powdered car both a crowd favorite. Don't just come during the day, the observatory has so much to offer too! The staff is incredible and is very knowledgeable. Even though we live in CA we purchased a membership and have really enjoyed coming day after day. With the membership we even were able to visit a couple other museums near our home. Such a great value!! read more

So freaking cool. We came here while camping in the Crescent Lake area and it was well worth the hour long drive! There was a funny little presentation and then we were able to look through all the telescopes. There was a shocking number of people there on a Thursday night but we noticed that by 10-10:30 it thinned out quite a bit. Next time we will come later! We saw Saturn, Mars, many star clusters and nebula. Saturn blew me away. The staff was really helpful and low key. We had the two youngest kids there (6 and 3) and they bumped the telescopes a few times but the staff just put them back in place and made the kids feel welcome and unafraid. The telescopes can be intimidating but they make them friendly. One of the staff was using a neat laser to point out a constellation and just by chance a shooting star happened right where he was pointing. It looked like it came out of the end of his laser and I actually thought it was some cool trick at first! I would love to come back for nighttime viewing as well as solar viewing during the day. I was really impressed with this place and it really got our 4 kids excited about space. The only tough thing is that its SO dark. They give everyone glow sticks to put on your shoe which helps a little to avoid bumping into people but good luck if you lose a kid! Designate a meet up place if you get lost or keep your people close :) read more

We went to the Nature Center, but not the Observatory. The Nature Center is small, but they do have a number of objects that the kids can put their hands on such as real animal skins and meteorites. They rehab injured birds and when we visited they had 4 owls, a hawk, and a golden eagle. The 3 year old wanted to stay and look at the birds over and over and over again. A short nature walk provides views of ducks, geese, a swan, and a large beaver dam. The staff are very friendly and one of them sat with us and named all the birds (chickadees, blackbirds, jays, etc) coming to the birdfeeder for our kiddo. read more

This was an outstanding evening of looking at the stars. Well worth the $8 admission fee. The presentation that was done was very interesting and the people who staffed the facility were helpful and knowledgeable. This was a wonderful evening and I would recommend it to anyone interested in looking at the stars. read more

nothing remarkable, but worth a stop if you have time to kill in sunriver. bonus points because it's super kid-friendly and has a really cute gift shop! read more

Excellent spot to take a bike riding break and learn a few new things. Some years we spend hours. Some years just a quick visit. But the site of the all white owl is very impressive and can certainly transfix all ages for a long period of time. Extra points when they cough up pellets in front of you! read more

Ok so I couldn't figure out why this was a must go. I went & it's a must go. 930 at night $8.00 and you get to look through telescopes, have knowledgeable people tell you what you are looking at & answer your questions. A little class(optional) that puts some size/distance perspectives into view. There is a free time during the day when u can look at the SUN, too. I went twice! read more

We arrived for Critter Camp after seeing signs in the Village advertising it ran from 10-noon. My son was very excited and we built our last day of vacation around this. Upon arrival, they said they changed the time and didn't bother to update the signs. That would have been ok, but they also refused to let us join the session for the last hour, citing that it would be disruptive. We are very disappointed that no one seemed flexible. read more

This was a surprisingly impressive little nature center that really maximizes its small space to educate the kids and make it fun. Just a short walk away is the observatory, which was also interesting as the kids got to see the sun through multiple telescopes. Very glad we stopped in on our bike ride through Sunriver. read more

Great place and a must see while you are in Sunriver. I brought my own telescope at night and they allowed four of us in for free. We also stopped in earlier that day and looked at the sun...amazing, and that is free admission for all for sun viewing. read more

It cost my family of 6 $52 dollars to enter this facility and after 2 hours of being there, we mostly stood in lines. I think we spent a total of 5 minutes actually looking through a telescope. I am giving it two stars instead of one because most of the staff were obviously passionate and knowledgeable. We listened to a half an hour talk on Jupiter and it was by far the best part of the whole experience. read more

This place is amazing! This is my 3rd time going here, and I am always wildly impressed with the knowledge of the staff, and how fun it is! It's great for all ages! read more

surprisingly full and impressive centers especially for being in an out of the way town. Well worth the visit to see a doughnut nebula. Highly recommend read more

This place is super cool. They have multiple telescopes you can look through and they do a neat laser pointer presentation where they point out the constellations. We really enjoyed the experience. You can see the stars so clearly from this location too, so beautiful. read more

What an amazing experience! This is a 2 hour program complete with a slide show talk, gazing through multiple different telescopes, a constellation tour (with the coolest laser pointer ever!) And presented by a bunch of employees who LOVE their job. The collective knowledge of these folks is stunning. No one was a PhD physicist so you won't get too far chatting about the physics of stars but even your chemist husband will walk away awed, having learned something totally new. Oh, lest I forget the PHENOMENAL views! We saw Saturn, Mars, M13 (my fave!), M3, binary stars, a ring nebula and more stuff I can't remember. Bring a sweatshirt and hat! And if your tush easily numbs, something to sit on because you'll be sitting on a hard wooden bench for 30 min. "Worst/hardest" thing about it? Having to stay up until 11pm (but duh, when else are you going to see stars???). read more

This is a must see for any age when visiting Sunriver. The staff is very knowledgable and the telescopes are amazing. There are usually 10-12 huge, high powered telescopes to view. Get there early to view the solar system. Usually a staff member does a laser light presentation of the constellations. On a clear night, the sky in Sunriver is amazing, being able to see the Milky Way with the bare eye. read more