Once in a while when certain people come together at the right time and place, something extraordinary happens. Such a juncture occurred in the early `70s at Naperville Central High School when a group of students were turned on to astronomy by physics teacher Glen D. Riley. Maybe it wasn`t exactly a big bang, but the resulting energies and materials are still expanding outward in 1988.
Under Riley`s influence, a handful of youthful stargazers applied themselves to building their own observatory and telescope.
”The Naperville Astronomical Association is no longer a high school club,” said president Drew Carhart, one of the founders. ”We now have over 90 members ranging from kids to retired executives and lots of couples and singles in between. We meet once a month for programs and lectures. We`ll also be at the observatory every Wednesday night during August and again on Sept. 28 to show anyone who`s interested some of the wonders overhead.”
Public relations chairman Bob Crowley said, ”Mars will be in its best opposition to earth in September. This year will be the most favorable for viewing for the next 17 years. Both Mars and Earth have elliptical orbits. They won`t line up as advantageously again until 2005. So we`ll also be co-hosting a program at Blackwell Forest Preserve on Friday, Sept. 16, with a rain date on the 17th.”
The club will set up portable telescopes at Blackwell and have experts answering questions about Mars. Because the peak night of opposition is Sept. 28, the club`s observatory will again be open to the public. ”We should get a good view of Mars` polar ice cap,” said Crowley. ”It`s probably frozen carbon dioxide similar to dry ice. Mars is the only planet showing surface detail.”
Lay people tend to think of astronomy as an esoteric discipline light-years away from their grasp. They recall pictures of Mt. Palomar and Mt. Wilson with giant telescopes like sci-fi space launchers. Many would-be devotees suppose that sort of equipment is necessary to see anything worth-while.
”Ours is a 10-inch Newtonian reflector,” said Crowley. ”It`s been upgraded with new parts over the years and it has a motorized shutter system. It`s quite good. The other kind of telescope is called a refractor. You look directly at the object through a lens instead of seeing the image in mirrors. The largest refractor telescope in the world is at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wis. (It has a 40-inch diameter lens and a focal length of 760 inches.) Some of us are going there Aug. 27 to look at Mars.”
Many of the members believe that astronomy is one of the few fields where it`s better to be an amateur than a professional.
”A pro may spend years on one star,” said Crowley. ”He`s usually locked into a time slot for using the telescope, and if it`s cloudy when his turn comes, he`ll miss what he`s waited for, maybe for years. Weather is always a frustration, but amateurs have more time and are free to sweep the sky at will. Most new comets have been discovered by amateurs. If you do discover a new one, and it`s verified, it will be named for you. Imagine, your own little bit of immortality.
”You also have the satisfaction of making valuable contributions to science. Observations from around the world are funneled into computer banks. A scientist can pull out 20 years of information turned in by amateurs instead of having to do it all himself.”
Larry Jahn, another charter member now serving as NAA program chairman, fondly recalls the humor and frustrations of the beginning:
”Parents used to jockey the group to places like Northwestern`s observatory in Evanston or dark country spots with bad roads. One night in
`73, the moon was passing in front of the Pleiades (a cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus). So we laid out markers 500 feet apart along Book Road to provide different views and take exact geographic coordinates. Only problem, it was February and there was deep snow. Our radios and tape recorders froze. Our telescopes frosted over and our fingers went stiff. We couldn`t time the event or signal the station. Then some of the waiting parents couldn`t get their cars started to take us home. Those were the days.”
What is the big attraction to looking at those spots of light in the sky? ”Maybe it`s the scope of what an astronomer can claim,” said Carhart.
”If I collected fossils or gems, I might acquire a few authentic specimens in a lifetime, and they might not be very good ones. But an amateur astronomer has the same galaxies as the world`s greatest scientists. Their Saturn is no better than my Saturn. I can see 100 years across the universe shining in my eye, the real thing. There`s something tremendous about that.”
”You don`t even have to have a telescope for the Perseid meteor showers,” said Crowley. ”Just lie on a chaise in your back yard and watch. They peaked on Aug. 12, but they`ll be around till late August. After midnight is the best time. People are always thrilled to see a single shooting star. You`ll see a lot of them if it`s not cloudy. Except they`re meteors, space debris in this case, stuff left from an old passing comet.”
Other things to see with the naked eye are a partial eclipse of the moon on Aug. 27 between 3 and 5 a.m. and Mars on Aug. 29. It will rise at the lower right of the moon and be visible at twilight.
NAA members have campouts and star parties, and they enjoy traveling to exotic places to witness special celestial happenings. Carhart met his wife, Susan, in 1979 when a group went to Canada to see a total solar eclipse. Some are planning to watch the next one in California, Hawaii or Mexico in 1991. Many families in similar organizations across the country plan vacations to coincide with such events.
”A total solar eclipse is the most spectacular thing you can see,” said Jahn. ”It`s so moving, it stirs your imagination like `2001: A Space Odyssey.` The solar corona looks like the texture of frost that`s been painted. You can see Bailey`s beads and the diamond ring effect. There`s just nothing to compare.”
(Bailey`s beads are bright spots on the rim of the moon caused by sunlight passing through its valleys just before and after a solar eclipse. It creates a diamond ring effect.)
Amateur astronomy`s popularity began spreading in the `70s. Now it`s one of the fastest-growing pastimes in the world. Has popular fascination with astrology had an influence?
”Maybe in getting someone to look through a telescope the first time,”
said Carhart. ”But after they realize the vastness, the numbers and distance involved, they usually forget the pseudo-sciences. Astrology charts don`t even reflect the correct number of planets or their positions. Once you experience the real universe, the other stuff becomes nonsense. . . . ”
Everyone who knew Glen Riley, the teacher who inspired it all, remembers him fondly. ”He had faith in what we could do, never degraded our abilities, let us do it our way,” said Carhart. ”Others were doubtful, condescending. He was always encouraging. He was correct in placing faith in the young.”
Jahn added, ”He had a quality that helped us raise our sights above the mundane. We were a bunch of dreamers and a few doers, and he activated ambition and energized us all.”
Riley died shortly before the observatory was formally dedicated to him in 1973.
The city of Naperville provided a location for the observatory in a buffer zone surrounding the Springbrook Wastewater Reclamation Plant on Naperville-Plainfield Road south of 75th Street. In return, the club invites the public to view through the telescope every Wednesday night during summer months. The public is also welcome to attend NAA meetings at Mid-America Federal Savings, 1001 S. Washington St., the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. A family membership is $24 a year. It provides a monthly newsletter, The Focal Plane, use of the observatory, portable telescopes and club library plus inclusion on field trips and other activities. Individual memberships are also available for $16.
The remaining Wednesday night public viewings at the Glen D. Riley Observatory are Aug. 24, Saturn, its rings and 5 moons; Aug. 31, the Omega Nebula.
