Sky’s The Limit Observatory and Nature Center

Attending the Friday night astronomy program at the Sky’s The Limit Observatory and Nature Center was an amazing experience. The setting alone is incredible, with clear desert skies that make stargazing unforgettable. Ranger Simone made the evening especially memorable—she was entertaining, enthusiastic, and clearly passionate in her presentation, keeping everyone engaged while making the information fun and easy to understand. What really made the night special was the community atmosphere. Volunteers generously brought their own telescopes and took the time to share the night sky with all of us, which made the experience even more interactive. The other rangers were also wonderful, helping visitors identify stars, planets, and constellations, and answering questions along the way. Tickets should be obtained in advance, but the event itself is free, which makes this experience even more impressive and accessible to everyone. The entire evening was well organized, welcoming, and a fantastic way to spend a night in the desert. If you’re anywhere near Twentynine Palms, the Friday night astronomy program is absolutely worth attending. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys nature, science, or simply looking up at a sky full of stars.

What a unique find ! I really enjoyed the QR code that lead to a narration of what we were looking at. I would love to go back for one of their programs at some point.

A nice place to stop by while visiting Joshua tree NP. Observatory is open 24X7 for self guided tour and is free. Occasional star viewing party conducted that needs advance booking and is an amazing experience. Expert volunteers would be there with their telescopes set up, so we can view through them and they are also kind to explain anything. Telescope in the dome is also available for viewing during this event. Night sky in this location is amazing.

Awesome stargazing spot, but too much light from the city. Might have to go deeper into the park for eyes to see the Milky Way.

I wish I could have come here at night to stargaze but was a first-timer, so I didn't get to see much during the day. On a good note, though, nobody was here. Like literally felt abandoned, which I love because I can just explore and take pictures. Only downer, restrooms were closed. I also discovered that entering Joshua Tree this way is the best. No line and took us to a cool area of JT where you can stop by to see Split Rock and Live Oak campsite. Keep going straight and basically takes you to the main entrance with all the stops on hand.

I went before nightfall so I wasn’t able to really stargaze so much here, I was really interested in the grounds though! I love the metal art pieces and the orbital installation that also gives you information on all the other planets and their orbit around the sun. The view from the top of the mountain here is really beautiful. I would recommend to bring bug spray!

Google Lies about the hours as do some of the reviews here. This is not 24 hours and 100% does not have the ability to do "self guided" - leaving JTreeNP late this evening after star gazing in the park for a few hours my wife and I decided to stop since it says "open 24 hours" and reviews clearly state "self guided" - upon getting to the observatory and seeing a huge owl which made going worth it tbh - we were greeted with a sign on the door that I snapped a picture of and will upload. It clearly says it is only open during "night sky programs on when a docent is present". This is neither open 24 hours nor does it fit under the category of some previous reviews that state "self guided". Place looks great. Looks like it would've been a wonderful experience. But the hours are clearly wrong and clearly "self guided" is not actually "a thing". 1 star for getting to see the owl. "Why didn't you look at their website?" - well JTree has literally zero service inside the park... we saw it while driving into the north entrance earlier that day and were able to see the hours on Google and couldn't "check the website". Suggested the hours on google are fixed as well as updating the description to ensure it's CLEAR "SELF GUIDED" isnot actually reality and maybe consider having better signage at the location instead of forcing someone to walk up to it to see it isn't open and then we felt incredibly uncomfortable to also be greeted with the note about being on camera since we were forced to walk up to the door since there was nothing else before that had any indication it was closed or use was not "self guided". Maybe next time.

Great place to see the stars and you don't have to enter the park to see it. There was a class when we were there. They were looking at the planets. The observatory was much smaller than I thought it was. There were benches along the cement trails to seat at and watch the stars. You can also see the city as well.

How wonderful! Although we came with the moon being out 76%, the stars were still so visible + the city lights from a distance! There's parking all the way at the end but we just stopped mid way and squeezed to a side. Definitely worth a trip to come out here. There are hills around you so it's way less windy.

Skys The Limit Observatory near beautiful JoshuaTree National Park is surrounded by some of the most scenic desert landscapes in the US! A great experience for the entire family,couples,seniors or teens. Lots to see and do here and explore! Lots to photograph here including the night time "dark sky" star sky full of millions of stars! You'll love The Skys The Limit Observatory and the entire Joshua Tree National Park experience! . . . . #skysthelimitobservatory #unitedstatesnps #usnps #waynesalvatti #photografxworldwide

It was closed but still had a great time. Worth the stop. The statues and planet placing area is a must see.

This place encourages the enjoyment of Nature with an appreciation for the intersection of Science and Art. Beautiful sculptures reinforce the celestial...things to look at during the day, things to look at during the night. Perfect stop for people with kids on Saturdays when they are open and have public star parties. Email or call them or check out their website. Also a cool place for a pleasant walk amongst the sculpture along winding wide pathways. Even more perfection for folks like me who are amateur astronomers. STL definitely rocks. It's free. And if you bring your scope, it's still free. If you are lucky enough to encounter members, they are friendly and knowledgeable. Clean restrooms. I've been told they are working to add electricity to the tables already in place there, for the convenience of astrophotographers. That's super cool. Quality experience at any hour of the day (or night), especially at night. Never have I seen such a wide swath of the Milky Way. Profound experience! Highly recommend!!!

Love the location of this observatory. The volunteers are very knowledgeable on astronomy and stargazing. They have awesome telescopes and viewing is free. You can just jump from oNe telescope to another to see stars, planet, mooN, and nebulas. Wonderful option when visiting Joshua park!

Convenient place to stargaze and take pictures. It's not too far from the nearby towns but the darker skies here provide a decent location for stargazing and snapping some decent shots as well. When I went there I was all by myself. When you arrive after dark, always turn off your headlights and switch to parking lights only to avoid blinding the folks who may already be there.

During the coronavirus, the observatory is closed but the parking is open at night. You can take a look at the stars. I used a app called Star Walk 2 to look at the constellations and identify them. We walked around and looked at the pitch black sky with so many stars. As you look longer the more stars show up. We got there right before 6:30pm after the sun finally set. It is a little bit outside of Joshua Tree National Park as you exit the North Entrance/Exit.

I absolutely LOVE this place. I've been here a few times over the past year for deep sky objects and the Perseid meteor shower. The volunteers who work here are so friendly and knowledgeable, and I love how they involve the community and encourage people to bring their own personal telescopes as well. A few of tips if you're coming here: 1) Bring a red flashlight - it's a lot gentler on the eyes at night. An easy way to do this is just to use some red nail polish on a small flashlight. 2) Watch for the signs at night - the observatory is before the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, on the left. 3) Check out both their events page as well as their Facebook page. The events page will give you details on what to expect, and the Facebook page will give you updates (cancellations, etc.). There are bathrooms here as well. Great place to see the stars and interact with the community!

I came here with some friends for a free public event they were hosting during National Dark Sky Week. I was surprised by how many people there were! Despite the 'crowd' of ~75 people there was plenty of parking and the lines for scope usage short enough. It was amazing getting to use some real high quality equipment, the light gathering ability of these were impressive. It was also great having a few speakers giving people some tours of what they could see in the night sky. I had known how to find the constellation Orion, but never knew how to find the namesake nebula! Even with binoculars I was able to see the bluish cloud. Notes for first time visitors: Please kill your headlights when parking, it takes 15minutes for our eyes to adjust to the dark, and headlights are surprisingly annoying. If you need light, bring a red flashlight. If you plan on camping, you cannot do so on site, but back north of town is plenty of BLM land. Scope it out during the daylight and go back after you visit the observatory.

Sky's the limit Observatory is a great asset to the community in 29 Palms and Morongo basin. We really miss them since they close due to Covid. They have wonderful weekend programs for the whole family and they're free.

Twentynine Palm's hidden gem! It was so neat! Great for family to visit. If you want to do something different, romantic for date night or educational this is it!!

Review is kind of long. My tips summed up are. 1:bring your own telescope and or binoculars and 2: plan to visit just after sunset. Spent my birthday in October in Palm Springs. A lot of businesses were closed due to the pandemic. I thought it best to sight see and plan outdoor activities. I've never been to an observatory before but always wanted to look through a big telescope to take a closer gaze. The description on the website said it was still open through the pandemic so I figured why not. It also said that they had small telescope all around there on the property s well as the main powerful one. That there will be music... and even though due to Covid these things were available it was still a vibe. There was a group playing techno style music and local who knew to bring there own telescope. I had the best time just staring at the sky and chill with the people I love and that matter most. The sky was so beautiful with zero light pollution. We arrived just after night fall. This is the perfect time apparently because you get to see the moon rise up from the mountains. It was the most awesomest thing I have ever laid my eyes on.

This is by far the coolest thing I've done this year. My family and I booked a private star gazing tour/star party with Ray. He was very helpful and was able to find a volunteer to host last night. We got to the observatory at 8:00pm and met with two very nice, helpful and intelligent people, Steve and Sierra. We were able to see a sky full of stars and constellations including Cassiopeia, Orion, Big Dipper, along with other Zodiac constellations. Through the telescope we were able to see the planet Jupiter. Super cool! We stayed for 2 hours but I could stay for hours. I HIGHLY recommend stargazing at Skys the Limit and if you can, definitely book a private star party for $100. It was worth every dollar.

This is a small observatory close to Joshua Tree National Park in Twenty Nine Palms area. Its interesting to see. Sometimes at night, they have night programs. There is parking.

On Saturday nights they have meet-ups and volunteers set up telescopes to view the stars and any interesting sites! They even pointed out when the international space station flew by, pointed out the north star, milky way, andromeda, etc. Great place to come if you want to view the stars with people. We decided to view the stars here since we weren't familiar with Joshua Tree and didn't want to get lost in the park. It's pretty dark but do not use your flashlight as you can hurt the eyes of people viewing the telescopes. Red flashlights only or turn your lights on after you walk away from the viewing area.

What an amazing npo! We were lucky to come to JTNP on a weekend when the telescopes were out. They host free Saturday star parties when the skies are clear. Because we came on a favorable day, we were able to catch the Milky Way, Big Dipper, Saturn and Jupiter through the telescopes. Sights were unbelievable. The enthusiasm of the volunteers is contagious; they are truly such gems. Thank you for the amazing experience!

Great place to for stargazing, almost no light pollution on a Moon less night, plenty of space to park and set up a telescope.

I seriously wanted to give this place a 5 star! I'm a huge anything space fan and was looking forward to this place but was kinda disappointed. The location is eh okay. Hard to drive through without lights at night in the parking area and kinda creepy. It said it was open from 8 to 10 but when I got there at 920, no one was there and it was locked. I then looked up at the sky and barely saw any stars. I'm guessing it was due to the fact that it was a full moon but still, I just wasn't feeling it. For the drive time it takes to come out here I expected more.

We were in town on a weekend getaway. When visiting the Joshua Tree National Park there was an advertisement for a Star party here at the Observatory and Nature Center. There were many helpful volunteers, Lauren, Matt, Steve and Ray on hand with telescopes, laser pointers and loads of knowledge. Everyone was friendly and courteous and took time to explain what we were looking at; often with sidenotes on names and stories. This was a fabulous experience. My children, 12 and 9, really enjoyed themselves and learned a lot. My girlfriend and I had a blast too. Thank you for making this trip just that much better.

Very cool Saturday star parties. Definitely bring a red light if you have one and bring some cash to tip the astronomers.

very good place to try to see stars (not like in the middle of desert but still pretty good) .... parking is difficult during saturday night stargazing parties, so arrive early... it's also a huge long line if you want to use their telescope to watch the stars. it's also unknown if the restrooms are open at night, since everyone is very polite not to use flashlight (red lights only)

More communication would be good on Facebook events. Great place to learn about astronomy and ask all the questions you want. Leaders of the group are knowledgeable and animated and make the experience fun. Enjoy taking pictures of planets from time to time. Would suggest this to anyone in town for a Saturday night! Great for kids as well

Great place for star gazing, especially if you're a novice or amateur astronomer. People are very friendly and helpful and informative. Telescopes are setup for anyone to view during the scheduled Saturdays (see their website for event days and times) and you can bring your own too. The pads and walkways are very nicely done and makes for a great experience!

Great way to spend some time on our vacation. Super friendly and informative staff (volunteers?). There were about 4-5 telescopes operating and changing their view to show us different stars, planets and galaxies. They donation based and I encourage anyone looking for a night activity to see if this observatory has any activities.

Came here a week ago with the brothers, looking for something unique to do while in the Joshua Tree area. We arrived late in the day from L.A., so we didn't have enough time to go to the park. Older brother heard about this place so we decided to check it out. Got there a little after 9pm, very dark, so u need to have a red light flashlight so you don't mess up your night vision. Everyone wants to see stars obviously, so the darker and clearer it is the better. Volunteers have their high powered telescopes set up so you can see amazing things. Good place for adults, and kids, as there were a mix of both. Everyone gets a chance to look through the telescopes, so no worries. I brought binoculars, so I was able to see a lot of things as well on my own. Volunteers are very helpful with their laser pointers to point things out, bring one if you have one. Overall great experience, and free, they take donations, definitely worth checking out when in the area!

I visited this place once with a $50 telescope a year ago and was hooked. Immediately after, I purchased a moderately priced telescope and began volunteering every Saturday since. I live and work in the Marine Corps Base in Twentynine Palms. This place has been my absolute favorite place for my family and I to visit. If you visit Sky's the Limit, please make sure you leave write a review. Sky's the Limit is entirely made possible by volunteers and kind donations from its visitors.

We were in 29 for the weekend (2/14) & stumbled upon Sky's the Limit during the daytime advertising sun viewings. Mike was an awesome volunteer, very informative and truly loved sharing his knowledge. He told us about the evening viewing, so we returned that night. All the volunteers that evening, including Mike again, were informative & they loved sharing their knowledge of the sky! We saw Jupiter, nebula, twin stars, cigar galaxy, constellations, and many other celestial sights. I would definitely recommend you go! Donations are appreciated & we were happy to help such a worthy organization.