Observation deck

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide

The observation deck is a lounge room located on the bow of Galactica, which is probably the only part of the vessel which has windows to view outside and into space through.

As Galactica is a warship, it does not have windows over much of its hull because these would be vulnerable to battle damage. Even the observation deck has armored doors which close over the windows when they are not in use.

The room is often used by couples for courting. Because of the high demand for this room, officials on Galactica have had to impose time limits on each group that enters. Billy Keikeya takes Anastasia Dualla on a date to the observation deck. Vipers occasionally do fly-bys in front of this room (Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down).

During the Battle of the Colony the observation deck is used to board the colony when Galactica rams it. It also appears that their are two more airlocks that might be used as observation decks. Daybreak, Part II

Notes

In the "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" podcast, executive producer Ron Moore explains how the observation deck highlights one of the naturalistic science fiction style of the Re-imagined Series:

"There really aren't any windows aboard Galactica, it's not really a traditional sort of sci-fi spaceship where you get to look outside and see space all the time. It's not like the bridge of the Enterprise where there's a giant viewscreen where you're always looking at stars and looking at space. And aboard Galactica, which is really a warship, the idea that there would be big places of windows was sort of ridiculous. But it did feel right that perhaps there was one place, that perhaps there was one area of the ship which accepted a window, a port, to look out, and that it would be a fairly confined space for the crew on these very deep space missions that probably last months, if not years, and that there might be a place where they could go and just stargaze for a little bit. And in this situation, it seemed like there would be a lot of people lining up to try to look at the stars and— y'know, a break from the monotony of staring at metal walls and the claustrophobia of being onboard a spaceship out in the vacuum of space."