Valley of the Moon Observatory Association

We are volunteer amateur and professional astronomers organized as a non-profit association to provide educational programs about science and astronomy for students, the public, and in support of educators.  We do this by building and operating the Robert Ferguson Observatory.

Robert Ferguson Observatory has offered outreach-based astronomy and science programs to the public for almost 25 years. RFO is almost all-volunteer run and typically serves about 9,000 visitors annually. The observatory is located in Sugarloaf State Park and houses a 40-inch reflector telescope, the largest telescope in Northern California that is accessible to the public; a robotic 20-inch research-grade, “CCD” telescope; and an 8”, two-meter long refractor telescope.