Patrick Wiggins, the astronomy expert famous for bright quips and deep knowledge of the starry skies, has retired after more than a quarter-century at Hansen Planetarium.
He was the planetarium's senior employee, having started in 1975. In 2000 he celebrated 25 years working there, and last year he became semiretired. At the end of April he dropped the "semi" part of the retirement.
A frequent guest on radio programs about astronomy, Wiggins has lectured at countless school outreach sessions throughout the state. He's also one of NASA's two official "ambassadors to the solar system" appointed from Utah.
Besides the school students, galaxies of other Utahns know Wiggins from his talks at public star parties, from Bryce Canyon to Salt Lake City to Stansbury Park.
Active for decades in the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, he was one of the strongest proponents behind the club's constructing a new observatory at Stansbury Park. Frequently he can be found working at the site.
When completed, probably this fall, the 27-inch-diameter 'scope will be one of the largest in the West to be operated by amateurs.
"He's really a hard worker," said Bruce Grim, who often labors with Wiggins building the observatory. "We always give him a job like drilling holes through concrete . . . the tough ones."
"I think he's a character!" exclaimed Andy Bogdan, who also works with Wiggins on the new facility. He has "a lot of energy and (is) very enthusiastic."
Wiggins recalls that one of the most inspiring directors he worked with at the planetarium was the man in charge when he started, Mark Littmann. Now an author and a professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Littmann built the planetarium into a facility that was known around the world, he said.
At one time, within the field of planetarium management, a term circulated to indicate vastly improving a planetarium "was literally known as being Hansenized," Wiggins said.
"We did a lot under Dr. Littmann. He built it to what I always thought was the peak of its history."
Of his own efforts at the planetarium, Wiggins notes that he was not a manager. He helped a great deal in the outreach program but did not direct the facility.
"I've been a worker bee, and that's what I like to do," he said. "I like to be down and dirty in the trenches."
Among his favorite moments were bringing science to school children and "seeing the light come on in their eyes. . . . That gives me a thrill."
Grim has seen Wiggins lecture to children at Stansbury Elementary School and notes that he does an excellent job. He predicted Hansen Planetarium will find itself missing Wiggins's programs.
Looking back over the years, Wiggins remembered other high points, such as attending the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., and visiting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for spacecraft Voyager's encounter with the planet Neptune.
"Then I also remember being at the planetarium when things happened," like the Pathfinder probe's landing on Mars.
"But on the downside, I still remember being in the planetarium that morning when the Challenger (space shuttle) exploded," he added.
The relatively rare sad events like the Challenger disaster and failures of space probes are "greatly outweighed, though, by just the neat stuff that happened," Wiggins said.
"Watching that little Sojourner rover buzzing around on the surface of Mars and sharing that with the public, it's really neat."
Now that he is retired, he is excited about spending more time with his fiancee, Patricia McWhorter, and working on the observatory.
He has more time for passions like piloting small planes and sky diving. Also, he enjoys observing the heavens with his telescopes, and now he can stay up until 4 a.m. and sleep as long into the daytime as he wishes.
But projects like these may not be enough for the high-energy Wiggins.
"I don't imagine he's going to be retired for too long because Patrick has to be doing something, we all know that," Grim said. "He's the kind of person that can't just sit around and stare at the wall.
"He's got to be doing something. . . . You won't find anybody more enthusiastic than Pat."
The end of his tour of duty with the planetarium leaves Wiggins feeling a bit sad.
"I'm sorry it's over," he said.
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com