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Observing and learning at Standeford Observatory

The new location is open once a week.

2006-10-04

By Amanda Dyslin

Mankato Free Press

Stars, astronomy professor James Pierce will tell you, are not interesting objects to view in thenight sky.

People not all that familiar with astronomy often have come to the Standeford Observatory at Minnesota State University, Mankato on clear nights and asked to view bright stars through a telescope.

"You look in the telescope and say, 'Yep, that's a bright star,'" Pierce said. Not too exciting. That's why Pierce and his students are there — to direct people to the real beauties, such as the Ring Nebula, the Wild Duck Cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy and numerous colorfulbinary stars.

To give people plenty of opportunities to find out exactly what these things are, the observatory is open each Thursday night this fall, canceled only if the sky is cloudy.

In previous years the observatory was open on special occasions during an eclipse orwhen Mars was visible. This fall there were no bright planets or eclipses toinvite the public to see. So Pierce thought, to give people a chance to see the coolstuff up there all the time, they'd open the observatory once a week.

"We can point things out, answer their questions and show them whatever is available,"he said. The new schedule also helps dedicate the new location.

This summer the observatory was moved into the woods a few hundred yardssouthwest of its old location, which was 250 yards southeast of Gage Complex parkinglot No. 1.

"At our old location, which was over 20 years old, we were running out of space,"Pierce said. "We didn't have enough storage space in our shed for our telescopes orpatio space to use them."

The new location also is closer to Andreas Observatory, which allowspeople using both observatories to coordinate more easily on observation evenings. It'snot such a long trek from one location to the other now.

The new site in the woods helps cut down on light pollution, too. But it's still close enough for students to easily walk and find it.

 

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