As the sky began to grow dark Friday Sept. 9 and Saturday Sept. 10, UI students, faculty and Moscow community members gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the new telescope. This 20-inch imaging Dall-Kirkham Reflector telescope is one of the largest telescopes in Idaho, and it will be used for research as well as teaching purposes.
Attendees were able to see Saturn and other items of interest in the galaxy from a screen projecting what the telescope saw, and the observatory was open for anyone interested to see inside and get up close with the telescope. Physics department faculty and students helped participants find planets and stars through the other available telescopes, and answered all kinds of questions about the night sky and the new telescope.
Grace Giger can be reached at [email protected]