Roy Kilgard

When I learned that a meeting of my division of the American Astronomical Society would be held in the path of totality of the August 21st eclipse, I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Having never been to Idaho, my family and I planned a winding trip from Salt Lake City through Twin Falls and on to Sun Valley, where the meeting is being held.

On the morning of the eclipse, we woke to beautiful blue skies. We took the Challenger Ski Lift 3,000 feet up to the 9,100 foot summit of Bald Mountain, our viewing location for the eclipse. Sun Valley is near the southern edge of the 70-mile wide path of totality, so we would only get about a minute of darkness. With such a short eclipse, I planned on taking zero photos of the moment itself.

The moment of totality is indescribable. As an astronomer, I knew that I would see the corona–the Sun’s tenuous outer atmosphere–but I wasn’t prepared for how it would make me feel. One of the things I’ve always loved most about astronomy is the beauty of the universe. You don’t have to know about stellar evolution to appreciate the arcing tendrils of a supernova remnant. But so many astronomical images are not what the objects look like to our eyes. The corona is different. It’s as magnificent as the best pictures of it you’ve ever seen, but the only way to see it is to be in a tiny geographic area at exactly the right moment… and get really lucky with the weather. I took a brief moment to look around the sky and see Venus and a few bright stars in the daytime sky–always there but hidden by the light of day.

And then, with a flash of light on its edge, the Sun returned. All the emotion, the elation, the joy came pouring out. Everyone was hugging and crying, high-fiving and whooping. It’s a remarkable coincidence of nature that our Moon and Sun are nearly the exact same size in the sky. Were the Moon larger or closer to the Earth, we would still have eclipses but the magic of the corona would be obscured. Any smaller or further away, and all eclipses would be partial. To experience such a rare cosmic event from such a beautiful place in the world was humbling and awe-inspiring.

And now the work begins. I will spend the next few days at my conference. Learning, working with collaborators, sharing results, but the conversation will always turn to the eclipse.

Come to the Van Vleck Observatory on August 21st, 2017, to see the partial eclipse of the Sun! We may not be in the narrow path of totality, but we’ll still be able to see 65% of the Sun disappear. We will have telescopes set up at 1pm. The eclipse begins around 1:20pm with mid-eclipse falling at ~2:40pm.

In addition to telescopes and eclipse glasses for safely viewing the Sun, you can also tour our historical exhibition and see images from the 1925 solar eclipse that passed directly over Wesleyan and learn about Wesleyan’s expedition to New Hampshire for the 1932 eclipse.

You can read about the 1925 eclipse here. 

The 2017 Sturm Memorial Lecture
MAPPING THE UNIVERSE WITH THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

Speaker: Dr. Daniel Eisenstein, Harvard University

Date: Monday, April 3, 2017, 8:00PM

Where: Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, Wesleyan University

Reception and telescope viewing at the Van Vleck Observatory to follow the lecture.

Editor’s note: I’m posting this on behalf of Kevin Flaherty, postdoctoral scholar in our department. You can find his web page on diversity in astronomy here. -RK

Diversity has been a popular topic of discussion on campuses across the country. In Astronomy, we are particularly aware of diversity, or the lack thereof, within our own field. 73% of astronomers are men, and 83% are white [1]. Recent months have seen headlines exposing professional astronomers across the country for their sexual harassment of students. Clearly we have some work to do…

But there are signs that things are getting better. The American Astronomical Society has made strong statements in the past year reaffirming that harassment has no place within astronomy [2] and in support of policies that increase diversity within graduate programs [3]. Our department is home to members of the American Astronomical Society’s Committee for the Status of Women in Astronomy, and the newly-formed Working Group for Astronomers with Disabilities. Over the last fifteen years the students in our Masters program were 81% female, and over the last five years, 60% persons of color [4].

And as of this semester, we have started a Diversity Journal Club. Inspired by similar efforts across the country [5], the focus of a Diversity Journal Club is on discussing published research on demographics, sources of bias, methods to counteract bias, as well as topical issues such as the ongoing Thirty-Meter-Telescope construction controversy. By using social science literature, we can tackle some of these complex topics in a venue where students, faculty and postdocs are able to freely share their ideas and experiences.

Honestly, I was hesitant at first to start this meeting, given the stretched schedule everyone already faces. Who has the extra time to spend reading psychology papers? But the enthusiasm from the faculty and students is overwhelming and bodes well for the future. I am looking forward to a semester of fruitful and informative discussions!

• Kevin

[1] https://aas.org/files/resources/aas_members_workforce_survey_final_jan2014v2.pdf
[2] http://aas.org/posts/news/2015/10/presidents-column-letter-aas-members-sexual-harassment
[3] http://aas.org/governance/council-resolutions#GRE
[4] https://osf.io/wbcnh/
[5] http://astrodjc.blogspot.com

On November 6 and 7, we officially kicked off the celebration of the centennial of Van Vleck Observatory with a series of performances by world-renowned modern dancer Eiko Otake in the historic refractor dome. I had the distinct honor of playing a (very) small part in Eiko’s performance–operating the restored 20″ telescope through a series of motions choreographed to Eiko’s dance. Below are a few photographs that capture the beauty of this unique event.

My own experience was one of delight and terror. While teaching is in many ways a form of performance, it is a solo act. The “audience” depends solely on the performer’s ability to engage them. And though I spent much of my early life as a musician, it was either solo or in larger ensembles; it is not since my childhood of playing duets on piano with my sister that I’ve had one other performer so dependent upon my actions. I’m not under the illusion that any mistake I could make would have ruined Eiko’s work–one need only glance at a list of locations where she has danced to see that she clearly enjoys an element of unpredictability. Still, it was that thrill that kept me from getting totally lost in Eiko’s etherial movements.

As a professional astronomer, the experience of getting to know and work with a performer like Eiko is one that can only happen at a place like Wesleyan. I feel incredibly lucky and humbled.

-Roy Kilgard, November 2015

Friday night 9-11pm and Saturday night 8-10pm marks the Grand Re-Opening of the restored 20″ refracting telescope!  Wesleyan is host to the 8th-largest refracting telescope in the country, but you might not have seen it before since it has been closed for the past 1.5 years while it has been completely disassembled, lovingly restored piece-by-piece, and reassembled into a marvel of old and new astronomical instrumentation.  The views are simply spectacular.  For more information about the 20″ restoration, check out the website.

As part of the observatory centennial celebration, Dance Professor and former MacArthur (“Genius Grant”) Fellow Eiko Otake will be giving a dance performance called “A Body in the Observatory,” which is free and open to the public.  There are performances Friday at 6:30 and 8pm, and Saturday at 4 and 6:30pm.  For more information, check out the Center for the Arts page. You can find a video of Professor Otake discussing the performance on our Facebook page.

Starting on February 4th, 2015,  the Van Vleck Observatory at Wesleyan University will be opening its doors to the public every Wednesday night, rain or shine, for a series of space nights.  Come talk to students and faculty about the latest space-related discoveries by scientists at Wesleyan and around the world.  For the spring semester, the events will start at 8pm, beginning with a half-hour interactive presentation by students and/or faculty, followed by a chance for everyone to see the sky through Wesleyan’s telescopes (weather permitting).  Presentations are intended to be accessible to visitors of all ages, although aimed primarily at high school level and above.  A series of monthly kids’ nights is in the works as well.  For more information and a schedule of events, check out the Astronomy department website at www.wesleyan.edu/astro/events or follow us on Twitter at @WesAstro .

To stay informed about all the latest Astronomy events at Wesleyan, sign up for our mailing list here: http://goo.gl/forms/mywuNrT0Nh

The dust has settled and restoration work for the summer is nearly complete. Our two excellent summer students, Becca Hanschell (’16) and Julian Dann (’17), spent 10 weeks disassembling, cleaning, and painting under the supervision of antique telescope expert Fred Orthlieb. You can see pictures and lots of time-lapse video on our twitter feed and youtube channel.

As of August 9, both axles and the OTA joiner have been remounted on the telescope pier. Almost all of the cleaning and painting has been done. We have sourced the parts for the new drives and telescope control system and will be acquiring those over the coming months. This is a time of careful thought as we design, build, and acquire new parts. We’re designing the system with the goal of another century or more of operation.

In the coming weeks, we will be announcing details about the VVO Centennial Celebration. Stay tuned!