I read with concern the excellent article by Jason Swensen concerning funding adjustments that Utah’s colleges and universities are making, following a mandate by the Legislature (“Utah’s colleges on what they’ll cut — and add — following state pressure.”) Because it’s been well over 45 years since I attended the University of Utah, I’m not in a position to comment on most of the changes. But I have greatly benefited from, and continue to enjoy, one of the U.’s programs, and I wish to put in a plug to at least keep its funding even with the present level, and preferably to increase it.
That is the public outreach by the University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, which features exciting ways to engage with the community at large and with experts from the department and elsewhere. Every Wednesday night when the skies are clear, several dozen visitors will find themselves experiencing the cosmic wonders literally right above our heads, as we peer through a small fleet of impressive telescopes on the roof of the South Physics Building. (Soon, the location of these sessions will change to the new L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building.)
Astronomy outreach by the university has impacted my life in a strongly positive way. About 1971, I believe, even before I began my 38-year career with the Deseret News, my wife Cory and I were able to look at Saturn through one of the university’s telescopes. To see this planet with my own eyes, that yellow wonder hanging in black space with its amazing ring system, was a view I will never forget. I had been interested in astronomy earlier, having witnessed the 1970 total solar eclipse at Virginia Beach, but this stunning sight just locked it in as a lifelong matter of love, writing and research.
Among my reporting fields at the Deseret News, my favorite was my decades-long stint as the paper’s science writer, and astronomy was the best of my duties. In the 17 years since my retirement, I have continued to write an astronomy blog and have become a member of the Clark Planetarium Advisory Committee.
My passion for astronomy and desire to bring the subject to others prompted me to found the Utah Astronomy Club, which — in our Facebook site, anyway — has 2,130 members, although we reach “only” about 800 per day and have had 329 posts in the last month. The most exciting aspect of the club is our monthly meeting, held up to now in the South Physics Building, soon to change to the Skaggs Applied Science Building.
It is impossible to exaggerate the value of the meetings. Like the club and the Wednesday observing sessions, they are free to the public, with never a collection of dues or fees. The university’s Paul Ricketts is the gracious and knowledgeable host to both the star shows and the club meetings. The talks are put on the internet for all to watch.
In the last few months, we’ve had energetic and highly informative talks by Professor Charles Jui, who was a much-admired teacher of my son, Sky, when he majored in physics at the U.; Ragadeepika Pucha, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, who was the lead author among 49 scientists worldwide who made amazing discoveries concerning intermediate-size black holes and active galactic nuclei; Ricketts, who filled us in on solutions to light pollution; Utah resident Melissa Calwell, who showed brilliant photos and videos she took of auroras last October; and Dr. Anil Seth, the University of Utah associate professor of physics and astronomy who was part of the team that discovered a nearby intermediate-mass black hole. The list could go on and on, since the Utah Astronomy Club has been meeting there for years.
The value to science of the closely allied endeavors of physics and astronomy is obvious and needs no defense here. But what is not so obvious is the psychological and spiritual blessings of astronomy. Those who have looked into the vast cosmos are touched by a direct connection with creation. This extraordinary glimpse of the universe beyond everyday life has inspired millions of us, including my own family. What awe, ideas and insights will grow from astronomy outreach is anyone’s guess, but they are precious on many levels.