UMaine moving historic telescope, BDN reports

The Bangor Daily News reported the University of Maine’s historic observatory will be torn down, but its 111-year-old telescope will be saved. “We want to continue to be able to share this important piece with the community,” Shawn Laatsch, director of the Emera Astronomy Center and Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium at UMaine, said of the telescope that has been used by thousands of students and researchers. During a September meeting, the University of Maine System board of trustees approved a plan to demolish the old observatory, according to the article. In 2014, the university debuted the $5.2 million Emera Astronomy Center, which is home to the university’s new planetarium and the new Maynard F. Jordan Observatory, which has a modern 20-inch reflecting telescope, the article states. The new UMaine telescope can be operated remotely, set by a computer to look at a certain section of the night sky at a certain time, which is a far cry from the university’s original 8-inch refracting Clark telescope that dates back to 1905, the BDN reported. “People still have a very strong interest in physically looking at the sky,” said Laatsch, adding some feel more connected looking through an eyepiece than they do looking at a computer screen. The new telescope in the Jordan observatory will continue to be used by students and researchers, but the Clark telescope will be used mostly for educating visitors, according to Laatsch.