I had only an idea of where Brackett Observatory stood, knowing it’s around the southeast part of the Pomona College campus but never having seen it. In fact, during an evening open house of the campus a couple of years ago, I stumbled around past dusk trying to find it and failed. It’s not impossible that I walked right past it.

But on a recent afternoon, I went looking for Brackett Observatory and found it, near the Sontag Greek Theater off East Bonita. The observatory was closed on a Sunday, of course, but the quiet allowed me to admire its classic dome with retractable roof, and its fieldstone walls. It’s a modestly sized place, built in 1908, and named for the same professor whose name adorns La Verne’s municipal airport.

More about it can be found on the observatory webpage, which includes a video of a solar flare.