2008 Woodie Awards
Observatory sees dramatic improvements in recent years
Space Studies assistant professor has worked towards the changes.
Ryan Johnson
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: News
An incoming Ph.D. student in 2001 has been on a mission since coming to UND - improving and adding capabilities to the university's outdated and under-funded observatory.
Paul Hardersen, now an assistant professor in the Department of Space Studies and manager of the observatory, said that he wasn't impressed much by the facilities of the time in 2001. "I was taken out to the observatory, and by any standard of an observatory, it looked pretty shabby," he said.
The department managed to collect enough funds in the 1990s to build the original dome with an 18" telescope on the site, near Emerado about 10 miles west of Grand Forks. The modest 140 by 140 square feet area, a fraction of the 1,000 acres of virgin prairie land that the Biology Department manages, has seen considerable changes in recent years.
The site now has four separate telescopes, and hosts 'star parties' during the warm months to allow interested people in the region a chance to get a better view of the night sky. Hardersen said that he has many more plans for the future if the funding can be secured.
Observatory's history
In 1996, what was intended to be an Internet-controllable telescope was added to the area. Hardersen said that the new feature had a lot of flaws, and he decided to make an argument for fixing the telescope after getting a job on the faculty.
"I finally convinced the department and the college to give me some money to renovate the Internet telescope so it would actually work," he said.
By the time the repairs were over in 2005, most of the original components had to be replaced. A small radio telescope was built in 2006, and they received money for a second Internet telescope last year.
The dome that had been in use since 1992 was torn down last fall to clear space for a third Internet telescope that will be built later this year. Hardersen said that by August, the university would have three optical telescopes and one radio telescope at the location.
Paul Hardersen, now an assistant professor in the Department of Space Studies and manager of the observatory, said that he wasn't impressed much by the facilities of the time in 2001. "I was taken out to the observatory, and by any standard of an observatory, it looked pretty shabby," he said.
The department managed to collect enough funds in the 1990s to build the original dome with an 18" telescope on the site, near Emerado about 10 miles west of Grand Forks. The modest 140 by 140 square feet area, a fraction of the 1,000 acres of virgin prairie land that the Biology Department manages, has seen considerable changes in recent years.
The site now has four separate telescopes, and hosts 'star parties' during the warm months to allow interested people in the region a chance to get a better view of the night sky. Hardersen said that he has many more plans for the future if the funding can be secured.
Observatory's history
In 1996, what was intended to be an Internet-controllable telescope was added to the area. Hardersen said that the new feature had a lot of flaws, and he decided to make an argument for fixing the telescope after getting a job on the faculty.
"I finally convinced the department and the college to give me some money to renovate the Internet telescope so it would actually work," he said.
By the time the repairs were over in 2005, most of the original components had to be replaced. A small radio telescope was built in 2006, and they received money for a second Internet telescope last year.
The dome that had been in use since 1992 was torn down last fall to clear space for a third Internet telescope that will be built later this year. Hardersen said that by August, the university would have three optical telescopes and one radio telescope at the location.
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