Want to Buy Your Own Observatory Dome? Here’s Your Chance.

Photo via municibids.com

Stargazers are in luck: a Massachusetts public school is auctioning off a massive structure that lets you scope the sky for celestial activity at night.

The Weston school system is trying to sell an eight-foot-tall observatory dome in an online auction that started this month, in order to bring in some additional non-tax revenue. The deal is going down through Municibids.com, an online government auctions platform, and already has a few bids. The going price for the dome is at $525. The domes typically sell for thousands, however.

“Taxpayer demand and tightened budgets require government agencies to look for new ways of increasing non-tax revenue. Municibid is an easy way to achieve this and at no cost to the agency,” says Municibid Founder and CEO Greg Berry. “Auction items will reach a much broader, national audience of competing bidders, leading to better net results.”

According to the stats on the observatory, which looks a lot like something from a Star Wars film, it can be housed in a backyard for personal use, or, ideally, sent to another school district for learning purposes, according to the auctioneers.

The dome is 13 feet in diameter, and about 8 feet in height. The dome is fully functional, rotates 360 degrees, and has a sliding door that’s used for entering the observatory. The structure needs a little touch up, according to Weston officials, but overall, it’s in “good condition.”

The downside? You’ll need a crane to move it, and it’s up to the buyer to get it to its next destination within 30 business days of purchase.

The dome isn’t the weirdest item on the market in Massachusetts however. Starting in June, North Hampton officials will try to get rid of old morgue tables, as in, tables used for dead bodies at former hospitals. The bidding hasn’t started, but when it does, the asking price is $10.