Are you sick of staring down at your cell phone? The Keeble Observatory at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland has an illuminating alternative for you.
It’s early October, the fall air is barely starting to cool, and astrophysicist and Randolph-Macon professor Michael Rodruck opens the door to the Keeble Observatory. Inside is a 16-inch Ritchey–Chrétien telescope that can see as far as the Andromeda Galaxy. And it’s all held within a 17-foot dome.
“But the cool thing is it tracks with the telescope," Rodruck says. "So, as the telescope moves from the sky, the dome is going to move with it, so you don’t have to move it manually.”
There’s also a camera system which allows them to do planetary research as well. It’s allowed them to find: “six new planets which are plants outside our solar system… and we’re trying to look at now, solar flares, so stars that are flaring, they get bright…
"It's outreach, its research and we use it in our classes as well,” Rodruck said of the facility.
Aaliyah Avent is one of the student workers at the observatory.
“I’m not majoring in astrophysics or physics or anything like that," Avent, who said she was obsessed with space growing up, told Radio IQ. "I’m just really interested and its fun.”
Folks like Avent are needed as Rodruck sets up additional smaller telescopes around the observatory’s perimeter. The student workers help curious stargazers— and those looking for a free event on a lovely evening— use the far-seeing tools.
Among those curious enough to make the trip was Mechanicsville resident Mike Thompson and his wife Grace. They took the 30-minute drive and made a date night out of it.
“It’s something neat to do, rather than all the other things we’ve done around town," Thompson says. "See the stars, look up rather than just around you.
And Grace said it was a wonderful view.
“Like a diamond shining in the sky!” she says with a laugh.
The Keeble Observatory is open to the public Thursday evenings at 7:30 PM but show up early cause a line builds quickly.
