Tony Berendsen

The contemplation of celestial things will make a man both speak and think more sublimely and magnificently when he descends to human affairs.

—Cicero

OK Nevada, its time to get excited! The University of Nevada, in collaboration with Concordia University, WNC, and Southern Utah University will install a 0.7 meter (27-inch) robotic telescope observatory in Great Basin National Park this summer. The opening of the Great Basin Observatory coincides with the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service and the 30th anniversary of Great Basin National Park.

The observatory will be the first research-grade observatory located in a National Park and represents another way our national parklands can be used. Not only do our National Parks preserve wildlife and landscape, they are dark sky preserves too.

Clifton column: Planned Great Basin Observatory gets a $50K boost

Dr. Dave Bennum and Dr. Melodi Rodrigue, members of the UNR physics faculty, are the university’s principal personnel involved with the development and future usage of the new observatory. I asked them about the observatory.

So why Great Basin?

“It is located in one of the darkest sky sites in the continental United States. The park has been doing astronomy programs for the last few years and the Great Basin foundation decided to pursue a larger project — the GBO was born! UNR was invited to participate because UNR’s president, Dr. Mark Johnson, is involved in the Great Basin Park Foundation.”

Why a robotic observatory?

“We have been interested in expanding our abilities to provide student research opportunities especially since we started an astronomy minor a few years ago. We have the (MacLean Observatory at Redfield Campus), but with more and more construction at that campus the light pollution has gotten to the point that most projects can't be done there. It's still a nice facility for outreach activities, but research projects are limited. We are also very passionate about using the GBO for outreach opportunities — we wouldn't be having students go there but they could use the telescope telescope remotely for lots of interesting science. Astronomy is a great vehicle for getting kids excited about science and math.”

Will the addition of the scope aid in the development of astronomy studies at UNR?

“Absolutely! (The observatory will aid with) student research projects in the instrumentation course (AST 310), astronomy minor senior thesis projects as well as physics senior thesis projects. We are hoping to expand our astrophysics offerings as well. There could certainly be masters projects; Ph.D. projects would probably not be on the menu yet.”

On a personal note, what would you hope, or expect, the scope to provide to the educational experience at UNR?

“Both Dave and I are so excited for the opportunities it will bring to our students, but also opportunities to students in general. The outreach component is also so exciting -- we need to have more kids excited about science; this will be an awesome tool for that goal!”

The observatory telescope is a Planewave CDK700 telescope, with an Andor research-grade camera and SBIG Sti Monochrome Guide camera, housed in an Astrohaven 12-foot dome. Students and researchers don’t have to be present to operate the observatory. They will access the observatory through a computer to program an observing project, and when the project is competed results are delivered electronically.

For more information about the observatory, visit Great Basin National park’s website at http://www.nps.gov/grba/index.htm , or visit greatbasinobservatory.org and make a donation! I’m excited; aren't you?

Tony Berendsen, aka Tony the Star Guide, runs Tahoe Star Tours. He can be contacted at 775-232-0844 or tony@tahoestartours.com.