TUPPER LAKE – Adirondack Public Observatory officials are developing an astro-science museum near their current facility on Big Wolf Road.

In 2015, APO received $70,000 in Smart Growth Grant funding from the Environmental Protection Fund to help create architectural design and fundraising strategies for the museum’s development.

APO officials say the museum tentatively includes an exhibit hall, planetarium and dome for a research-grade telescope. It would be constructed on the APO’s 4 acres of property near its Roll-Off Roof Observatory building by the Little Wolf Beach. The observatory building is currently open to the public for stargazing with astronomers every clear Friday night this summer.

APO hired engineer and former Tupper Lake local Kurt Bedore to provide architectural designs of the building by the end of summer.

Board members are currently applying for museum status to enable more grants for the extension’s construction and future exhibits at the observatory. The funding will help the town and APO in “capitalizing on the Park’s dark and clear night skies to attract residents and visitors to explore the Cosmos,” according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s website.

With support from the Wild Center museum and town government, the APO hopes to further its goal of becoming a tourist destination and center for space education in the town.