Badlands Observatory

Established in 2000, the Badlands Observatory is a private facility for research, education and stargazing located in the small community of Quinn. For more than 10 years, owner Ron Dyvig contributed data to the Minor Planet Center in support of their mapping project for Near Earth Objects. In later years, the Observatory primarily provided telescope time to institutions and students. Since 2019, Ron and partner Teresa have been upgrading the facility and fine-tuning their programming in order to create a favorable experience for visitors, including daytime tours and night sky programs. Guided tours are available daily. Daytime tours are provided by reservation only, and may be made by phone or email. Daytime tours can start as early as 9 a.m. and as late as 1 p.m. They last approximately 1.5 hours. The cost is $10 per person, 10 years and older. Night tours vary with the phase of the moon, sunset times and sky conditions, and cost $29.70 per person, 10 years and older.