PEI

Night sky viewings at UPEI proving popular, when the clouds clear

The last few public viewings using the high-powered telescope in UPEI's observatory have drawn bigger crowds than usual. Organizer Megan Glover speculates it could include people whose interest was piqued by the rare solar eclipse last spring.

Organizer says people flocking to see '100-year-old light' with their own eyes

A woman looking through a telescope in an observatory.
UPEI's Megan Glover looking through the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope in the university's observatory. (Ken Linton/CBC)

More people than ever have been waiting for their turn to take a look at the night skies through UPEI's high-powered telescope. 

The Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, located in a small observatory on the roof of Memorial Hall on the university's Charlottetown campus, is used by the physics department for astronomy education and outreach to the public.

"The last few events, we've had a lot of participation, which has been great, to the point that it overflowed our classroom," said Megan Glover, a UPEI physics and engineering lab technician who has been running the free outreach program for years.

That has meant that at some recent events at the observatory, people have had to wait up to an hour for a turn to look through the telescope. Instead of 30 or 40 people at every twice-monthly event, they've had as many as 90. 

"We will make sure that if we have a big crowd, we'll stay late and make sure everyone gets up to the eyepiece to have a look," Glover promised. 

Interest in the stars on the rise

Part of the reason for the crowds might be that cloudy weather has cancelled so many previous public viewings, Glover said — some people have told her they've been waiting since last winter to attend. She's also beefed up the observatory's presence on social media.

And then there was the rare total eclipse in April, when western P.E.I. was one of few places in North America in the path of totality where weather co-operated for clear viewing. 

A dark skyline with a single light on at the top of a tall building, against a starry night sky of blue and purple.
The UPEI observatory on the top of Memorial Hall is seen against the night sky. (Megan Glover)

"I do also wonder if the solar eclipse earlier this year, and children learning about it in school, may have sparked an interest in astronomy in some kids," Glover said.  

"We certainly do see lots of families attending because they have a child who is very interested in outer space or the planets."

UPEI doesn't research astronomy, so the Celestron CPC 1100 StarBright XLT GPS telescope is a tool for education. The Charlottetown campus has a second-year course that covers the topics of astronomy, stars and galaxies, and students use the telescope to see what they're learning about. 

I think of astronomy as sort of a gateway science… it's getting to observe the natural world and see something that is kind of awe-inspiring and wondrous and makes you want to learn more.— Megan Glover

Then there is outreach through invitations for the general public to come and look through the telescope too. Glover has in recent years increased the number of the observatory's nighttime viewings from monthly to twice a month. 

The telescope is also available to community groups on P.E.I.

"We get different kids' groups in, like Guides, Beavers, 4-H who are doing astronomy programs, and even groups like seniors' college that are studying the topic of astronomy… to give them the opportunity to see what is happening in the sky," Glover said. 

Curiosity, colours and the star clusters

What drives Glover's dedication to the observatory? 

"I think it's important to get people interested in science, and in physics in particular," she said. "I think of astronomy as sort of a gateway science… it's getting to observe the natural world and see something that is kind of awe-inspiring and wondrous and makes you want to learn more about it." 

A man in shorts and a tank top looka through a telescope on the ground while others mill around on a summer day in front of the Bell Aliant Center.
Organizers speculate that the April solar eclipse has boosted interest in astronomy on the part of the general public. (Travis Kingdon/CBC News)

Young visitors could be sparked to go into a career in science, or treat it as a hobby, while older people may learn to simply better appreciate the world and where we are in it, she said — "just feel that sense of awe you can feel when you start to really contemplate our surroundings."

What makes the view from the observatory that much more awesome than from a home telescope is the power of the university's huge telescope: its aperture measures 11 inches, compared to two, four or sometimes six inches for most home telescopes. 

"When we do have a good clear night, the views are pretty good, and you get to see something that is elsewhere in our solar system, or elsewhere in our galaxy, and you're getting to see it with your own eyes and it's not just a photo," Glover said.

Popular things to observe at night are are the moon, nebula and star clusters. 

A woman with glasses, wearing a khaki-coloured jacket, adjusts the settings on a giant telescope.
The UPEI telescope is much more powerful than most home models, Glover says. (Stephen Brun/CBC)

Glover and the physics department assistants now also offer daytime public viewings during the summer, during which people can get a close-up look at the sun with either a smaller solar telescope or a solar filter on the observatory telescope.  

She cautions that what people will see may not be as colourful or detailed as photos taken by high-powered space telescopes like the Hubble telescope or the James Webb space telescope.

"You might not see something that looks as colourful and fantastic through our telescope or your home telescope as you would in those photos, but you are getting to see it with your actual own eyes, be it in our own solar system or 100 light years away," she said. 

"One-hundred-year-old light, that's what's getting to your eye when you actually look through the telescope."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sara Fraser

Web Journalist

Sara has worked with CBC News in P.E.I. since 1988, starting with television and radio before moving to the digital news team. She grew up on the Island and has a journalism degree from the University of King's College in Halifax. Reach her by email at sara.fraser@cbc.ca.

With files from Stephen Brun