Community Corner

Stargazers Celebrate Grand Opening of Mt. SAC Observatory

Stargazers and fans of all things planetary gathered at Mt. San Antonio College Friday night to celebrate the grand opening of the campus’ Observatory and Science Exploratory Center.  

Earlier this year, an astronomy dome was installed at the Randall Planetarium that includes a state-of-the-art telescope and camera.  College faculty, staff, and the public got a chance to go up into the dome and look at the night sky as part of the celebration. 

Larry Redinger, the college’s dean of natural sciences, said the observatory, exploratory center, and science complex as a whole has been a long time coming.  

In 1996, a modest proposal to get the languishing planetarium up and running again led to a fundraiser featuring Star Trek creator Ray Bradbury and one of its stars, actor George Takei, Redinger said.  

Three years later, the planetarium was built, he said.  

“Tonight we get to go that next step into the stars, in a sense,” he said.  

Onetime NASA astronaut, nuclear physicist, and University of Virginia Professor Kathryn Thornton spoke at the event.  Thornton, who became an astronaut in July 1985, flew four space flights.   She said before her speech that floating was one aspect of space exploration she will never forget.  

“Floating is the best part because it’s something you can’t bring back,” she said.  “It’s an experience that’s hard to replicate.”  

During her speech, Thornton said that she witnessed earth’s power, looking down on the tectonic plates visible when flying over the Himalayas and volcanoes that looked like pimples on the world’s surface. 

“I saw this living breathing powerful earth and recognized that we are the ones that are fragile, not the earth,” she said. “The earth is going to be here with or without us for a long time.”  

Thornton also compared Mt. SAC’s equipment to the Hubble space telescope.   While no earth-based telescope can do what the Hubble can, the one at the college’s observatory is “as spectacular” in its own way, she said.  

“That telescope up there can’t come close to the Hubble space telescope but what it does is it’s excel in a different parameter,” she said. “It excels in access so you and I and these little kids can go up and take a look at it and be a part of the world of astronomy.”  

Thornton has a local connection to the college. Her son-in-law, Professor Michael Hood, teaches at Mt. SAC.  

Hood said the well-equipped observatory would make a difference for students.

“Having a telescope of this size with this quality camera that we have attached to it, lets us do real research,” he said. "That is not something most community college students or even most students at a four-year college get an opportunity to do.”  

Mt. SAC Board of Trustees President Manuel Baca said he is very proud of the efforts the college is making in math and science.  

“We’ve got the planetarium that no one else has in the San Gabriel Valley and tonight we dedicate the astronomy observatory, which is one of its kind as well in the area,” Baca said. “And its only the beginning because the things we will do here at Mt. SAC to better prepare our students for careers and life in math and science….it’s a great adventure. We are only beginning to see the things we will discover.”  

Besides the viewings at the observatories, attendees of the grand opening also toured the Science Exploration Center.  The center features meteorite, fossil, mineral, and gem collections, as well as the OminiGlobe Earth and Space Projection System, which visually aids in the study of science. 

Also featured is the Meek Natural History Animal Collection, which includes lions, antelopes, and deer in taxidermy form.  

Redinger, who is slated to retire this year, said his love of science grew out of a visit to the Seattle World Fair as a boy.  He was hooked because science was something he could see and experience up close, he said.  

The science center, planetarium, observatory, and rock and botany walls in the complex are tied to one mission – making science and math accessible to all.  

“This area is just an immersion of science and math,” he said. “If our country is going to go forward, it’s going to go forward with that.”  


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