The Smaller Telescope at Battle Point Park Is Doing Research-Grade Work This Fall

For years, the observatory in Battle Point Park was best known for one instrument. The Battle Point Astronomical Association describes the 27-inch Ritchie Telescope as having been "the largest telescope accessible to the public in the Pacific Northwest." In 2024 it was removed "in preparation for new, more capable telescopes," according to BPAA's own history page. The scope on the roof now is a 14-inch PlaneWave CDK. That's roughly half the aperture, and in about a year and a half its measurements have been accepted into databases NASA uses when refining studies for the James Webb Space Telescope.

That shift changes how the observatory runs this time of year. On clear nights, the work on the roof is increasingly scientific. On Saturday afternoons, the public goes downstairs to the Rudolph Planetarium. If you live within walking distance of the park, it helps to know both halves of that schedule.

A Building That Was Supposed to Be Torn Down

The observatory's ability to change course goes back to how it was built. The structure began as the Helix House, part of a World War II Navy radio station on the site. Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District says the 90-acre park once held a Navy radio transmission station with an 800-foot antenna that sent coded messages to the Pacific Fleet and to naval stations along the West Coast. HistoryLink adds that the station had a reinforced-concrete transmitter building, a helix building and four 300-foot towers alongside the taller one. All five towers came down in 1972, when the land went to the park district.

Two decades later the Helix House was again slated for demolition. In 1992, BPAA's founders, John H. Rudolph, Edwin Ritchie and Mac Gardiner, stepped in, and volunteers turned the concrete shell into an observatory. Basic construction was finished in 1997. Each founder's name is on a room you can still walk into today: the Rudolph Planetarium, the Ritchie Workshop and the Gardiner Library.

Volunteers built the place, and BPAA credits volunteers again for the rebuild of its rooftop dome and telescope.

The Swap, Step by Step

The changeover took longer than one season. Here is the sequence BPAA has published:

1. 2024: The 27-inch Ritchie Telescope is removed.
2. May 2025: Dome construction is essentially complete. The 14-inch PlaneWave CDK is mounted and testing begins with an imaging camera, with a visual system to follow.
3. June 21, 2025: The observatory celebrates its reopening after two years of rebuilding the dome and shutter and installing the new rooftop telescope.
4. July 2025: BPAA posts the new telescope's first image, the galaxy Messier 101, built from nine hours of data.
5. January 17, 2026: Visitors look through the rooftop CDK at a star party for the first time.
6. Summer 2026: Community star parties run in May and June, followed by a July 18 session and telescope viewing every Friday evening in August alongside Movies in the Park.

If you came to the park for those August Fridays, you've already seen the summer version of this observatory. Our week-by-week Battle Point Park guide from August covered that season. The fall version is different, and BPAA's November update explains why.

What a 14-Inch Telescope Can Prove

On November 1, 2026, BPAA reported that calibration and commissioning of the rooftop system were "reaching its final stages a year ahead of schedule." The post includes a light curve recorded by the Battle Point telescope. It shows a star dimming as a hot Jupiter, a type of giant exoplanet, passes in front of it, about 650 light-years from Bainbridge. In the association's words:

"The data demonstrates an incredible precision of +/- 32 seconds for the calculated midpoint of transit! The quality of this data is already in the research category and we're not done yet."

The same post says the observatory's last three calibration data sets have been accepted by the American Association of Variable Star Observers and by NASA's exoplanet databases. BPAA notes that NASA uses those databases when refining studies for the James Webb Space Telescope and the recent Pandora satellite program.

Timing a transit within 32 seconds says more about this telescope than its size does. A bigger mirror collects more light. This kind of precision comes from careful calibration, a well-built dome and volunteers willing to process data night after night.

The research work has also moved up the education plan. BPAA says the telescope's performance let it extend its free STEAM school programming to high school students a year earlier than planned. Its first two high school interns are learning how astronomical data is collected and processed, and they're helping design a program aimed at future students writing published research papers.

Why the Public Calendar Moves Downstairs

The rooftop does its research on clear nights, and on Bainbridge those come less often as the year ends. BPAA's November planetarium note puts it plainly: "As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, it's the perfect time of year to enjoy a planetarium show. No need to worry about overcast skies or freezing temperatures."

So for the next month the public side of the observatory runs on Saturday afternoons. Shows are at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Tickets are sold at the door for $10 for adults and $5 for children, and BPAA members get $5 off. Here is what's on the BPAA events calendar from publication day through mid-December:

The November 14 event is the observatory's open-house fundraiser. Guests get a planetarium program, a presentation on the school programs, a tour of the observatory and a silent auction for a Celestron NexStar 114 GT telescope that comes with training. BPAA says the event supports its outreach to Kitsap schools, including the new high school internships.

The astrophotography group is the one item on the November calendar that comes straight from the rooftop work. BPAA says all experience levels are welcome.

December 12 Brings the Telescope Back Into View

The one date on the calendar that connects the planetarium and the roof is the December Second Saturday Science Talk. Erin Leigh Howard presents "Seasons on Earth and Other Planets" from 6 to 8 p.m. A planetarium show follows, then a star party if the sky cooperates. The timing fits the topic. The talk falls nine days before the winter solstice, when Bainbridge gets its longest night of the year, and the event is set up so the evening works whether the night is clear or cloudy.

The star party is the only public telescope night on BPAA's calendar between now and mid-December, and like every star party here it depends on the weather. If the clouds stay away, it's a chance to look through the instrument whose measurements are now in NASA's exoplanet databases.

Getting Closer Than a Ticket

For neighbors who want more than an occasional Saturday show, BPAA lists several ways in. Members can borrow telescopes from its lending library, and its loaner program includes how-to training. The association also teaches astronomy classes through Bainbridge Island Parks, hosts the monthly Second Saturday Science Talks and sends out a monthly email newsletter called The Observer. If you can't make November 14, BPAA's Make Space for Wonder online fundraiser supports the same programs, including the staff who write planetarium shows linked to common core standards.

There's also the matter of volunteers. BPAA credits its volunteers with getting the rooftop system to research quality a year ahead of schedule, and the association closes its November update with an invitation: "If any of this intrigues you, consider getting involved." Its volunteer page is the place to start.

Living near Battle Point means living next to a working observatory, and our team enjoys passing along late-fall details like these as much as summer concert schedules. To see more of what makes this part of the island special, visit our Battle Point neighborhood page, or reach out to the Amy McFarland Team any time. Contact your Island Life Concierge.