|
On April 13, 2003, a crisp Sunday evening perfect for
stargazing, the GCS Observatory was opened. The children
of GCS founders Kingdon and Mary Gould donated on their
parents' behalf the exceptional EDF Refractor Telescope,
a college-level research grade instrument which will
enable students to observe distant objects in the universe,
rather than simply looking at pictures in books. The
observatory will enhance the already diverse educational
curriculum offered to students at Glenelg, and follows
the educational trend of supporting textbook learning
with interactive demonstration and visual tools.
Use of the GCS Telescope
The telescope is a wonderful addition to the facilities
at Glenelg Country School. It is a unique learning laboratory
used by students in Pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth
Grade. Students of all ages will be exposed to the wonders
of our universe by seeing for themselves the planets,
stars, and galaxies that appear only as pinpoints of
light to the naked eye in the night sky. Students' favorite
objects have been Saturn and its moons, the Orion Nebula,
and the stars in Pleiades. During the day, students
take advantage of the telescope by observing the active
Sun, looking at sunspots and flares.The telescope lends
itself perfectly as a laboratory tool to enhance investigative
learning by the students. Pre-Kindergarten age students
have observed the Sun with the telescope and determined
that the Sun is actually a round object and does not
have stripes radiating out from it! Fifth graders looked
at the Andromeda Galaxy and its companion M32 in preparation
for studying galaxies in their science classes. Middle
School Latin classes have gazed at some of the astronomical
targets that bear Latin names, etc.
The mission of the observatory is to excite and challenge
the students of GCS to look at the universe both critically
and artistically and to investigate things they don't
understand. With the recent exploration of Mars, the
push towards colonization of the Moon, and the upcoming
mission to Pluto, we see that astronomy and space exploration
is front-page science. The observatory allows GCS students
to push ahead of their peers in the pursuit of space
science.
The GCS Telescope
The GCS Telescope is a 155mm (6.1" aperture) f7
StarFire EDF made by Astro-Physics. Its focal length
is 1422 mm, and 14.6 is the instrument's limiting magnitude.
The telescope is a refractor, so the internal optics
consist of a series of lenses that collect and focus
light. The visual performance of the telescope is outstanding,
allowing for true color viewing of the moon and planets.
For instance, the light and dark bands that are classically
associated with the atmosphere of Jupiter are clearly
visible on clear nights through the telescope, as are
the Galilean moons. Saturn, too, appears sharp through
the instrument; even the Cassini division between the
A and B rings is distinct.
The magnification and field of view through the telescope
vary according to the selected eyepiece. Currently,
we have several eyepieces ranging from a 55 Plossl which
results in a magnification of 29x and a field of view
of 1.9º to a 7 Nagler which magnifies objects 203x
with a 0.38º field of view. With appropriate eyepieces,
magnifications of 600x can be achieved with this telescope.
|
