The Goleta-based Las Cumbres
Observatory Global Telescope Network, a privately funded science research
company, built the telescope and the dome that will be housed at Sedgwick in
partnership with University of California, Santa Barbara.
The blackout darkness of the
rural Santa Ynez night sky and the distance from the ocean fog were factors in
the placement. The 0.8-meter reflecting telescope will operate remotely by
computer, so scientists rarely will be on site unless they are testing or
installing equipment.
The telescope itself, which
weighs 3 tons, is expected to be craned into place by the end of the year and
should begin operating after several months of commissioning in 2009.
Because the inky-dark sky is
so important to successful use of their equipment, the astronomers are hopeful
that Santa Ynez will maintain its dimly-lit nights. They have contributed
comments to the draft community plan process indicating such.
‘Googlestronomy’
The Las Cumbres network, in
progress with telescopes around the world, is what president/chief engineer and
founder Wayne Rosing calls his “refirement.”
An engineer at Sun
Microsystems early in his career, Rosing got the idea to create a network of
telescopes, linked by computers, around the world. After his retirement from
Google, he decided to actually do it.
Along with making scientific
progress, “something we want to do is make a scientific awareness contribution
to the Santa Barbara County community,” Rosing said. “A telescope at Sedgwick
became the obvious conclusion to it.”
He’s assembled a team of
accomplished scientists and recent graduates from astrophysics and engineering
programs, including science director Tim Brown.
Brown, working with a
graduate student, discovered the first exoplanet — a planet beyond the
Solar System — transiting its parent star — named HD209458B —
in 2000.
“Is there life elsewhere?
Are there other planets like earth elsewhere? We hope to at least help answer
that question,” Brown said of the observatory’s work. Another question they are
working on is what, in addition to the tangible material that makes up just a
tiny percentage of the universe, and the dark matter, which makes up about 30
percent, is the rest?
“That’s the strange thing
about the cosmos,” Brown said. “We don’t know what 90 percent of it is.”
Transiting planets are among
the intergalactic features that may be viewed from the Sedgwick scope.
Supernovae, exploding stars that brighten and fade over two to three weeks
time, are another and will contribute to the cosmic make-up question.
“We’ve been doing quite a
lot of observing from our parking lot (in Goleta), so Sedgwick will be so much
better; it’s beyond comparison,” Brown said.
UCSB connection
Lars Bildsten, an
astrophysicist and member of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at
UCSB, is in charge of training the Sedgwick docents, most of whom are local
residents, on how to use the telescope technology for lesson plans.
“The value for outreach,
education and science, as a local resource is so important and made me much
more aware of the resources at Sedgwick,” Bildsten said.
He and Rosing had a long
conversation about astronomy one day that ultimately led to the telescope being
created at Sedgwick.
Dozens of grade school
children, including many from Santa Maria and Lompoc, visit Sedgwick each year
as part of nature and science outreach programs. They take hikes, do science
experiments and experience the rural environment.
Because they visit during
the day, the observatory will set up technology so that the kids can see images
from other telescopes around the world — including in South America and
South Africa — from the conference room at the Tipton House.
Bildsten, who studies
supernovae in his research, said the local telescope also may track newly
discovered supernovae, which would be useful data for him.
The 5,900-acre Sedgwick property
was formerly Rancho La Laguna and was bought by the famous Sedgwick family in
1952. Duke Sedgwick donated more than 5,000 acres of the property to UCSB when
he died in 1988.
The Land Trust for Santa
Barbara County raised $3.2 million to purchase the remaining portion from the
Sedgwick heirs, and it was placed in a conservation easement and became part of
the UC Reserve system in 1996.
Reach Leah at
letling@syvjournal.com.