Skywatch, hosted regularly at the Robert and Lillis Kingman Observatory by the Department of Physics, had a particularly active night on Feb. 13. The event, which occurs weekly or bi-weekly depending on the weather, invites Andrews students and community members to view objects in the night sky using the observatory’s powerful telescope or smaller telescopes set up nearby.
Ben Radivojevic, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering and physical studies, described Skywatch’s purpose fairly simply, saying, “It’s just something fun and cool that we do.” He went on to describe the function of his “astrophotography rig”, a refracting telescope able to automatically determine its position relative to the night sky using the reference point of Polaris, the North Star. The telescope concentrates light by passing it through several progressively smaller lenses.
The centerpiece of the Kingman Observatory is another refracting telescope, similar in principle to Radivojevic’s but on a significantly larger scale. Saulo Cantanhede, an adjunct professor at the Department of Physics and a volunteer at the Observatory, said, “This telescope is good because it has a large diameter. It means that you can see faint objects brighter. Ben’s telescope is good, but with these objects, with the same amount of time, it can gather more light than that one. So this is good for astrophotography.”
One especially notable guest was the namesake of the Kingman Observatory, the venerable Robert Kingman, alongside his family. Kingman, who worked in the Department of Physics for over 40 years and spent 30 of those as its chair, has always had a penchant for the stars. During that period, he claimed, he came out almost every week, though today his visits to the observatory are much less frequent.
Kingman offered an anecdote involving a sighting of Halley’s Comet (dating this story to 1986), narrating, “One time we had people all the way around in the inside, and there was this elderly lady. I helped her carefully to the eyepiece. She looked into the eyepiece and, you know, it’s kind of hard to get your eye looking right through the optics and stuff. But I stepped back and said, ‘Did you see it?’ She said, ‘Yeah, and I saw it when I was a little girl!’”
As for the part of Skywatch that involved watching the sky, several objects of note were visible on the night of Feb. 13. The first the telescope honed in on was the planet Saturn, the most distant of the planets able to easily be seen with the naked eye. Through the telescope, its rings were clearly visible. Saturn soon sank beneath the horizon, but another bright star—Jupiter—soon came within the telescope’s sights. Jupiter appeared incredibly bright due to being near opposition (where Earth is directly positioned between the Sun and Jupiter), yet the distinctive striped clouds of its atmosphere were still faintly visible, as were three of the four Galilean moons.
Other sights included Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, the Trapezium Cluster in the Orion Nebula, and even a faint glimpse at the distant Andromeda Galaxy. Each new target required a move of both the telescope and dome, accomplished by a system of precise motors that kept the telescope on target, correcting for the movement of both the target and Earth itself through space.
One sight that didn’t require any telescope to view was a brilliant meteorite that graced the sky directly in front of the dome’s opening as it peered out toward Orion. For a moment, the shooting star lit up the interior of the observatory, but just as quickly, it was gone.
The experience left an impression on those who showed up. Radivojevic gave his perspective on the importance of Skywatch, saying, “It’s something very nice to have for me specifically, and it’s nice to be able to share that with others. It’s not something that a lot of people get a chance to see in person. Not see it on some screen, some edited image. It’s more real, tangible.”
Junior Vitor Barbosa, majoring in management, enthusiastically described what inspired him to come to Skywatch, saying, “Honestly, I just love astronomy. I didn’t even know that we had this place, and it was at this school. But then I found out some time ago, and I mean, it’s awesome. This is my first time. That’s why I’m so excited.”
Junior Daylan Jewell, majoring in computing, detailed what motivated him to come to Skywatch, saying, “I was brought out here by a friend who mentioned that this event was happening. I actually took an astronomy class when I went to Turkey and Greece with Professor Saulo. I don’t know a whole lot about the cosmos and whatnot, but it does fascinate me, all the science that we know about it, and observing how it moves around us. It’s really beautiful.”
Jewell continued, describing how he felt when viewing the night sky in such detail as “whimsical” and commenting on Andrews’ fortunate position to be able to engage in such activities. “It’s not something that we get to experience very often, especially if you’re not going out of your way to study the cosmos. And having that kind of opportunity on a regular basis here at Andrews, I think people don’t take advantage of it often enough.”
Skywatch occurs on Friday, Saturday or Sunday evenings on a weekly or biweekly schedule and as the weather allows. Skywatch’s schedule, weather predictions, and directions to the observatory can be accessed at their website, and their planned schedule is posted in the Campus Center and other places. Once the weather clears up, who knows what wonders Andrews might witness through Kingman’s window to the stars?
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.