Student astronomy association · Toulouse

Sharing the best of astronomy

Change the way you look at astronomy.

Since 2009 UPS in Space has brought together students from the Toulouse campus around observing, science outreach and the building of an observatory open to everyone, the OJBT.

UPS in Space, or UPSiS, is the astronomy association of the students of the University of Toulouse. It builds and runs the OJBT, the Jocelyn Bell Observatory in Toulouse, France’s first 100 % student-run observatory.

2009

Year founded

On the campus of the University of Toulouse

>60

Members

More than 30 of them active

45 %

Of members are women

Well above the science sector as a whole

508 mm

The observatory’s telescope

France’s first 100 % student-run observatory

The association

A student community, open to everyone

UPS in Space is a student astronomy association, based on the campus of the University of Toulouse. Governed by the French law of 1901, it has held public-interest status since August 2019.

Student-run it may be, but it is open to everyone: our aim is to share the best of astronomy with anybody at all. Whatever your age or your level, you are welcome at UPS in Space.

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Our history in a few dates

2009

Founded
30 April, the association is born on campus.

2013

Restart
Activities resume, first instruments, first talks.

2015

Observatory project
The observatory project is born.

2019

Ten years
More than 50 members and public-interest status.

2020

Teams
Organised into teams with the UPSILON student consultancy.

2021

A room of our own
Fifteen square metres, the first we did not have to share.

2022

A hundred members
More than 100 members and a new room at Chez Paul.

2025

The observatory
The observatory opens on 11 December.

Governance

How the association works

UPS in Space is an association under the French law of 1901: its members decide, elect, and share out the work between teams. Here is the whole path, from the general meeting to the people in the field.

The sovereign body

General meeting

Every member of the association, more than sixty of them. It votes the direction and elects the board.

elects each year

The body that decides

Board

Seven elected people. It takes the important decisions, approves commitments and sees to the good running of the association.

The officers are chosen from among them: chair, vice-chair, treasurer and secretary.

delegates day-to-day running to three teams

Observatory team

Builds and runs the Jocelyn Bell Observatory in Toulouse. It is divided into three groups: management, technical and science.

The running of the observatory is supported by a scientific committee and a supervisory committee, independent of the board. Their role and the call for projects are set out on the observatory’s site.

Communications team

Speaks for the association and makes what is seen: the site, social media, press relations, the visual identity, and the artwork for outreach, exhibitions and public events.

Events team

Organises what brings people together. Internally : the Tuesday sharing evenings, the equipment training and members’ outings, from the pic du Midi to CNES. For the public : talks, observing sessions, school outreach and the teaching resources that go with it, and the big events, Nuit des Étoiles and Jour de la Nuit.

What we do

What we do

UPS in Space runs many free activities around astronomy. Whether you come out of curiosity, join the association or bring a group, the way in is not the same.

General public

Talks given by members and by researchers from IRAP, daytime and night-time observing sessions, Nuit des Étoiles and Jour de la Nuit. Open to everyone, without membership and free of charge.

What awaits you

Members

Training on the equipment and on astrophotography, sharing evenings every Tuesday, visits to the pic du Midi, CNES and IRAP, and access to the observatory’s instruments.

Join the association

Schools and groups

Sessions on request, workshops and classroom visits, from primary to higher education. We build the session with you, to suit the level and the time you have.

Write to us

Calendar

Coming up

Observing sessions depend on the sky: they are confirmed or cancelled the day before, sometimes on the day itself. Each entry carries its place and its category.

Welcome week: day 1

August 24 at 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Association stand, on the campus of the University of Toulouse.

Welcome week: day 2

August 25

A look at what we do and at the internal training.

Welcome week: day 3

August 26 at 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Meet the teams and sign up.

Add to my calendar

You can subscribe to the calendar from your own application: the entries update themselves.

Our observatory

The Jocelyn Bell Observatory in Toulouse

France’s first 100 % student-run observatory, designed and run by students of UPS in Space. Four telescopes and refractors, a four-metre dome, a 508 mm main telescope and €200,000 of instruments, to share astronomy with every kind of audience.

The observatory dome, open at nightfall

The blog

News

Four to six articles a year, timed on predictable celestial events, each one pointing to the calendar.

The Perseids from Toulouse

Sky this month

Where to look, at what time and with what equipment, and the observing evening that goes with it in the calendar.

First light of the spectrograph

Life of the observatory

The account of a commissioning night, taken from the observatory’s log.

Autumn: joining a team

The association

The positions open, how to apply and the calendar of internal training.

Press coverage

They write about us

Radio, television and print, from our very beginnings to today. More than fifty mentions since 2018, each with its date, its outlet and a link to the source.

2025

Les Échos and L’Opinion for the official opening, AEF info, Ciel et Espace, La Dépêche twice, Occitanie Tribune, Rêve d’espace, Le Journal Toulousain, La Vie Économique.

2023

La Dépêche, Université de Toulouse, Actu Toulouse, Le Parisien, and the dome going up.

2021

La Dépêche, Actu Toulouse, Touléco, Le Parisien, Ouest France, the Société d’astronomie populaire, Rêve d’espace, Le Journal Toulousain, Sciences en Occitanie.

2019

France 3 Occitanie on the 19-20 news twice, for the Génération ISS competition and a feature on the dome, Localement Votre, La Dépêche three times, 20 Minutes, Sciences en Occitanie, Rêve d’espace, Actu Toulouse.

Change the way you look at astronomy, come on the adventure with us.