General public visitors enjoy a visit (top left) to the huge Warren Rupp Observatory telescope recently at Hidden Hollow Camp south of Mansfield. Kim Balliett (top right) uses a computer monitor to help maintain the observatory scope’s alignment while treating visitors to the eyepiece views of Saturn (insert below).

An array of astronomy club and private telescopes (lower photo) are available for public enjoyment the first Saturday of each month at the Observatory on Possum Run Rd.

STARRY SKIES--

There is an astronomical observatory high on the ridge occupied by Hidden Hollow Camp south of Mansfield.

Where there are sounds of children squealing with the delight of camp activities in the daytime, darkness often brings library-like quiet and a deep red ambiance from subdued lighting in the area of the telescopes.

An array of portable telescopes sprouts on the paved observing area, seeming to pop up at dusk like metallic mushrooms—all being fussed over by a squadron of local astronomers, fine tuning the instruments for the evening’s viewing.

Presiding over this activity is the Warren Rupp Observatory’s two-storey dome which houses their instrument sporting a giant, 31” mirror; one of the largest telescopes in the world operated by amateur astronomers.

It is an 18 foot long behemoth that requires a telescoping man-lift to hoist observers to the elevation of the scope’s eyepiece.

When I took my ride Richland Astronomical Society member Kim Balliett was operating the lift in near total darkness—her silhouette sparkling from the red light of the computer monitor displaying a chart of the night sky and helping maintain precise alignment of the scope on the sky’s celestial delights.

Barb Hubal of the RAS, sporting a comical starry-night hat, told the general public visitors, many objects being viewed that night located in deep space are thousands or even millions of light-years away from our Earth.

“That means the light we are seeing tonight left that galaxy thousands or millions of years ago,” she remarked to the attentive group of guests.

I was reminded of my own private viewing of the naked-eye visible Andromeda Galaxy which is about 2 ¼ million light years away.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. At that speed it takes light from Andromeda 2 ¼ million years to reach us.

Looking at that galaxy in the summer sky the viewer is actually looking back in time.

It is difficult to wrap the human mind around clear comprehension of such things.

But, the folks at the observatory will give you a good boost in that direction.
__________________________________________
The RAS holds public viewing nights the first Saturday of each month and lots of nifty information is available on their web site here: http://www.wro.org/