I
Volunteer Cheryl Hoffman gazes at the September constellations Saturday in front of the Hyde Memorial Observatory'.
By Connie L. Sheehan
Staff Reporter
One by one, the observers
peered into the telescope’s
eyepiece. Each time, the
bright point of light in the evening
sky blossomed into a full white
sphere encircled by rings and sud
denly became Saturn, rather than
just a distant star.
Moving on to the next tele
scope, observers watched the twin
stars of the Alberio Double Star
System twinkle in many colors and
the third telescope offered a view
of the Ring Nebula in Lyra.
“A lot of the people here tonight
came to see the Neptune slides
from Voyager 2,’’ said Cheryl
Hoffman, one of the evenings
volunteers at the Hyde Memorial
Observatory in Holmes Park.
Even though the admission is
free, Hoffman said, not many resi
dents knew about the observa
tory’s existence before Halley’s
comet. Events like Halley’s comet
and Voyager 2 have drawn special
attention to the observatory.
Jack A. Dunn, board member for
the Hyde Memorial Observatory
and the evening’s supervisor, said
Halley’s comet drew a crowd of
2,000 observers and the recent
moon eclipse attracted 700 people.
The observatory, which opened
11 years ago, was designed for
public use, Dunn said.
Most observatories in the United
States are associated with research
centers, private industry or aca
demic programs, Dunn said. Lin
coln’s facility is one of only a few
community observatories in the
Midwest.
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Dunn said the observatory’s
construction was funded com
pletely by donations. A fter comple
tion, the observatory was donated
to the City of Lincoln and now is
operated by the city’s Parks and
Recreation Department.
The department staffs the obser
vatory completely with volunteers,
Dunn said.
“The people who work here like
to tell the story of whal’sout there,”
Dunn said, pointing up toward the
starred sky.
Mark Fairchild, a programmer
for Lincoln Telephone Co. and
member.of the Prairie Astronomy
Club, said he goes to the observa
tory to help answer questions
almost every Saturday night.
Fairchild said that if he can’t
answer a question, when he re
turns home, he checks the informa
tion for the next time.
"That way, they (the observers)
are learning and I’m learning too,”
Fairchild said.
Hoffman said in addition to her
regularly scheduled days, she tries
to stop in a couple of times a month
to sec if the staff on duty needs
extra help.
Hoffman said even though she
doesn’t have an extensive astron
omy background, she tries to at
least answer the "yes" or "no”
questions.
Dunn agreed that on the aver
age, the general public doesn’t
have an extensive astronomy back
ground but "you don’t have to be
an Einstein to go out and enjoy the
skies."
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