Practical information

Getting in touch

Write, visit, or follow us

The form is the surest way to reach us: it goes straight to the association’s mailbox and you get an acknowledgement.

Write to us

Other ways

Social media

We also reply to private messages, but the form is more reliable for a specific request.

Press

For a feature or an interview, go through the press room.

Press room

Write to the chair

For anything that commits the association, its representation or its partnerships. Your message reaches the chair, with a copy to the secretary.

Where to find us

The address

Building U5-MEP, 2nd floor, door 222
Building 332, allée Huguette Delavault
Campus of the University of Toulouse

43.5632° N · 1.4685° E · altitude 160 m

Postal address, letters and parcels

UPS in Space
118 route de Narbonne
Building U5-MEP, 2nd floor, door 222
31062 Toulouse Cedex 9

One entrance for everybody, the main campus entrance, day and night.

Route to the car park

How are you coming?

Metro

Line B to Université Paul Sabatier or Faculté de Pharmacie, then allée Huguette Delavault to building 332. From line A, change at Jean Jaurès.

Bus

Stops Université Paul Sabatier and Faculté de Pharmacie, served by several lines of the Toulouse network.

Cable car

Téléo cable car, Université Paul Sabatier station, connecting directly with metro line B.

Bike

Public bike stations on campus, and racks in front of the building.

Car

The university announces gates open until 11 pm on weekdays. In practice they often close much earlier : count on 8 pm. Only the gate at 118 route de Narbonne is open at all times.

Coming off the ring road, the exit depends on the direction of travel and on the time.

By day, on the inner ring road, exit 23 “Rangueil”, sign Université Paul Sabatier. On the outer ring road, exit 20 “Lespinet”, sign Complexe scientifique.

In the evening, on Sundays, during holidays and on public holidays, on the outer ring road, exit 19 “Le Palays”, sign Métro. On the inner ring road, exit 23 “Rangueil”, then route de Narbonne to the gate that is always open.

The campus has four entrances. Three are open from 6 am to 8 pm Monday to Friday and on Saturday morning, outside holidays and public holidays. The one beside the Université Paul Sabatier metro station stays open at all times : it is the only one possible in the evening, on Sundays, during holidays and on public holidays.

By day the most direct is the voie 10 entrance : from the roundabout it serves the car park beside the building and the one by room S. Voie 7 comes in from the south of the campus, allée Émile Durand.

After 8 pm only one car park is reachable, the one by the roundabout, a hundred and twenty metres from the building. You then come in through the main entrance and follow allées Louis Lareng, cours des Sciences and cours Rosalind Franklin, which circle the campus from the inside. Leaving is through a different gate, forty-five metres from the entrance.

A route planner has no idea that the other gates close and would take you to a locked gate : the markers on the maps below therefore offer two distinct routes, one for the day, one for the night.

The Tuesday sharing evenings are held in a ground-floor room further south on campus, and you park in front of the UFR STAPS.

Wheelchair

The building is accessible, and allée Huguette Delavault is step-free from the transport stops.

The campus gates close at different times, and a route planner knows nothing of it. The access page brings together the four entrances and their hours, the car parks, the stops, coming in from the stations and the airport, and routes worked out for the day and for the evening.

Planning your visit

Frequently asked questions

What we are asked most

How do I join the association?

Membership is taken out online, at any time of year. It opens the training on equipment and astrophotography, the Tuesday sharing evenings, the outings and access to the observatory’s instruments.

To join the operational team in a specific role, write to us: we will tell you which roles are open and what they involve.

Do I have to be a member to take part?

No. The talks, the public observing sessions and the national events such as Nuit des Étoiles or Jour de la Nuit are free and open to everyone, without membership.

Membership opens what is reserved for members on top of that: training, Tuesday evenings, outings and access to the instruments.

How can I observe with the observatory?

By booking a place on one of our activities. The programme and the arrangements are on the activities page.

The Jocelyn Bell Observatory in Toulouse has its own site, which sets out the instruments and the conditions of access.

Do sessions depend on the weather?

Entirely. An observing session is confirmed or cancelled the day before, sometimes on the day itself: the sky decides, and nobody can decide in its place.

Every decision is announced on our social media, which is the quickest way to know whether the session is going ahead.

What if I have a disability?

Mobility impairment. It is possible to follow our activities from the observatory’s control room, on the second floor of the building. Reaching the instruments, however, means taking a steep staircase: the spaces are only adapted as far as the terrace that leads to it.

Hearing impairment. Arrangements can be made on request. Write to us before your visit.

Visual impairment. Provision is being put in place. We prefer to say so rather than let anyone believe it already exists.

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