Greetings stargazers.
The observatory on the roof of Sitter Family Hall at Fort Lewis College had its grand opening in 2017. The dome, visible from downtown, is part of the Falcon Telescope Network. This is a global network of telescopes developed by the Center for Space Situational Awareness Research in the Department of Physics at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
The situational awareness aspect of the network is to track debris in low Earth orbit and help keep functional satellites safe in this crowded environment. Of more immediate use to FLC is that the 20-inch diameter telescopes in the Falcon network are remotely accessible and can be used collaboratively among the institutions within the network. Similar observatories are located at several schools in Colorado and other parts of the world, including Australia, South Africa and South America.
As with almost any 21st century technological hardware, maintenance and upgrades are inevitable. This week, the Falcon telescope at FLC has been significantly upgraded. Almost everything except the optical tube has been replaced. The biggest change is the mount holding the scope, which means the very heavy and bulky telescope had to be taken down in the limited space of the 12-foot diameter dome. Fortunately, enough FLC students with strong backs were here during the summer to help the team from the Air Force Academy with the heavy lifting.
Next to the dome with the Falcon telescope, an adjacent structure with a roll-off roof has two telescopes that are permanently mounted. A large, open deck around the structures provides space to bring out several other telescopes on tripods. During astronomy labs, student teams set up 8-inch Dobsonian “point and shoot” telescopes on this deck to learn about the night sky.
This summer, I am working with students studying “hot Jupiter” type exoplanets. These are large, gas giant planets that orbit very close to their host star, making complete orbits every few days. As a planet passes in front of its host star, the dip in light can be observed using the equipment at FLC.
If you are an early riser, Saturday morning has the crescent moon slightly above and to the left of Mars. Following the line from the moon through Mars you will see the bright star Aldebaran. The orange-ish color of Aldebaran is close to that of Mars, and now Mars is far enough from the Earth that it appears much dimmer than its maximum brightness and is comparable to that of Aldebaran.
If you have exceptionally good eyesight, you might be able to pick out Uranus, which is about the same distance from Mars as the crescent moon, but is up and to the right instead of up and to the left.
The summer Milky Way as viewed from a dark location like Southwest Colorado is one of the most beautiful sights in the night sky. Rising in the early evening, rich star fields, numerous star clusters, and dark lanes of interstellar dust and gas are easily visible. Scanning the Milky Way with binoculars is an activity that is always rewarding. I hope we can all avoid wildfire smoke to enjoy this activity in July.
Charles Hakes teaches in the physics and engineering department at Fort Lewis College and is the director of the Fort Lewis Observatory. Reach him at [email protected].