Mercury,
November/December 2003 Table of Contents
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Image
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by
Roger Knacke, Darren Williams, and Jonathan Hall
Developing
a college or high school observatory will greatly improve science
programs, and it’s not as expensive as you might think.
Few
of us have ever forgotten the thrill of our first look through a
telescope. The view of the Moon or Jupiter added to the wonder and
mystery of the stars. That experience, augmented by a big telescope
and a dome against the night sky, thrills the most casual skygazer,
even in the days of planetary missions, Hubble images, and the Internet.
An
astronomical observatory at a college or high school can greatly
enhance astronomy, physics, and Earth science programs. It offers
a way for scientists to reach out to the public and bring visibility
and excitement to science. We’ve recently built an astronomical
observatory at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, with a generous
gift by the Robert M. Mehalso family of Rochester, New York. Our
experience developing the observatory might be useful to others
who are considering construction of astronomical facilities.
We
designed the Mehalso Observatory for education and outreach, not
for fundamental astronomical research, although we strongly encourage
undergraduate research projects. In such an observatory, commercial
telescopes with apertures of 6 to 20 inches give detailed views
of planets, stars, and bright nebulae. An observatory planned with
these goals can be built and maintained for relatively modest costs,
and is a unique addition to a science program.
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