The observatory contains a 12-foot telescope controlled by a wireless laptop computer.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – A vision from 30 years ago became reality Friday night as the roof rolled back and the telescope stretched its long metal neck into the starry night sky at the University of Maine at Farmington’s new observatory.

Located on Mosher Hill on land donated by UMF geology professor Tom Eastler and his wife, Sue, the observatory has been a long-standing dream of the Eastlers, who saw the tall knoll as the perfect place to view the heavens.

More than 50 people attended the opening, which was punctuated with a chorus of “wows” when the retractable roof rolled back to reveal the 12″ Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, which is controlled by a wireless laptop.

An hour before the opening, clouds loomed over the hills hiding the stars, but minutes before the crowd arrived, the clouds rolled past and the twinkling stars fittingly made their appearance.

“Is this cool, or what?” UMF’s provost Allen Berger asked the crowd.

The observatory, he said, was a blending of “lofty academic ambitions, incredible community spirit and incredible Yankee ingenuity.”

Not only will the facilities be used for academic purposes for college students and professors, but for the community, who will be able to see the sky during public viewing sessions on the first Friday of each month.

Purchased in 1996 thanks to funds from a technology fee assessed to each UMF student, for years the telescope was hauled down from a third floor storage room at the college for astronomy classes.

Chris Magri, a physics professor at UMF, said although the telescope looked “cute” and “manageable” in the catalogue, it turned out to be more cumbersome than he had initially thought. “It’s like traveling with your pet elephant,” he said.

The search for a permanent location to house the scope, which takes in 10,000 times more light than the human eye, was on and when the Eastlers officially donated the land last year, a home was found.

For the past 15 months, volunteers from the campus and community have been working to build the wood-framed observatory, using “bailing twine and bubble gum,” as Eastler joked.

“The whole process has been satisfying. Astronomy is a special science,” said Al Bersbach, manager of UMF’s network and server systems, who headed up the charge to build the observatory.

“It brings you face to face with something that’s so vast, so majestic, so powerful that you can’t comprehend it sometimes,” Bersbach explained about his love of the study of the sky. “It helps you know your part in the universe.”

At the celebration, Magri showed some photos taken last week with the telescope.

The crowd also was treated to pictures of the Andromeda Galaxy, located some 2.9 million light years away.

Then, they got to see for themselves, as Magri zeroed in on Mars, allowing the viewing public to take a sneak peak for themselves.

“It’s just an orange dot,” said Kyle Chase, 9, who came down from Bingham with his mother, Kathy, younger brother, Adam, and father Everett, for the grand opening.

“Astronomy is one of my favorite things,” said Kathy, a science teacher at Valley High School.

“I love the sky. I could stay out here all night. I want to give that to my kids. Show them there is a whole lot out there we don’t know.”

The UMF Observatory will be open to the public the first Friday of every month. For more information or viewing schedule, phone 778-7159.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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