Kent State observatory bouncing back after 15 years

On the Eastern edge of Kent State’s campus stands a small, remote building down a gravel drive that can only hold eight people at a time. Inside is a 12-inch telescope mounted on a concrete platform at the top of a short set of stairs.

Amateur astronomers, families and students would come out every weekend to look at the sky and get a taste of what might exist beyond our home.

This building is the Kent State observatory which hasn’t been used in almost 15 years.

This image shows the Kent State observatory which has gone unused for the last 15 years.

Dr. Jonathon Secaur, an associate Physics professor at Kent State, has been trying to get the observatory back up and running for most of the 10 years he’s spent at Kent.

“The biggest trouble was that the mount that drives the telescope and the computer system that controls it were both built in the 90’s,” Secaur said. “The new software for the computer was not compatible with the firmware in the mount.”

This image shows the equipment connected to the telescope that can control where the telescope is pointed in the sky.

Secaur and the Physics Department eventually had to donate the mount but ran into a stroke of luck when Dr. Spyridon Margetis, another physics professor at Kent, donated his mount and telescope for the observatory’s use.

The observatory also had problems with the dome not rotating and with the battery that powers the building, but Secaur and the Physics Department recently resolved these problems as well.

This image captures the mount in the observatory that holds the telescope in place.

Now, after years of complications, the Physics Department has all the necessary parts to get the observatory back and even better than it was in the 90’s.

“We just have to go through a pretty tedious calibration process and then we should be ready to roll,” Secaur said.

Secaur is optimistic that the observatory will be open soon and can’t wait to see what comes of it in the next few years.

“Not every university has [an observatory] and not many people have access to this kind of equipment,” Secaur said. “It’d be great to share this with other students and have star parties where people can come watch interesting things in the sky.”

Dr. Secaur controlling the telescope at the center of the observatory, something he hopes to be doing a lot more next semester.

Other professors at Kent are also looking forward to what the Physics Department could do with an operational observatory including John Barrick, Physics and Astronomy professor at Kent State.

“In my undergrad I was at Mount Union college and we had an observatory mainly for public viewing, but we opened it up the community,” Barrick said. “Students would come in and we actually had classes and lectures on public nights that helped me to become even more interested in the topic of teaching.”

Professor John Barrick sitting at his desk in between class and office hours.

Barrick is just as excited to see what the observatory can do for students that aren’t studying Physics and Astronomy at Kent.

“Whether you are familiar with the intricacies of the universe or not, looking at the sky on a good, dark night is one of the most awesome experiences that a person could have,” Barrick said.

Secaur is hoping he and a few students will be able to go out the observatory next semester to finish the calibration process and bring the observatory to the amateur astronomer heaven it was over 15 years ago