{"id":46274,"date":"2017-09-14T03:36:29","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T07:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=46274"},"modified":"2017-09-14T06:48:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T10:48:41","slug":"ut-seeks-toledoans-planetarium-memories-to-celebrate-50th-anniversary-of-astronomy-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/09_14_2017\/ut-seeks-toledoans-planetarium-memories-to-celebrate-50th-anniversary-of-astronomy-program","title":{"rendered":"UT seeks Toledoans’ planetarium memories to celebrate 50th anniversary of astronomy program"},"content":{"rendered":"

I teach astronomy\u00a0at The University of Toledo,\u00a0and\u00a0I\u2019m known\u00a0as \u201cProf.\u00a0B.\u201d\u00a0My\u00a0job is part technical and part inspirational.\u00a0The excitement of the recent, historic\u00a0solar eclipse touched hearts and sparked the imaginations\u00a0of generations of families across the country who crowded streets to witness something powerful in the universe.<\/p>\n

Here at UT\u2019s Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory,\u00a0we\u00a0also\u00a0are planning to celebrate a major milestone and are in need of the public\u2019s help to share our\u00a0rich history\u00a0of education,\u00a0outreach\u00a0and celestial exploration. Friday, Oct. 13, will mark the 50th\u00a0anniversary of the University\u2019s astronomy program,\u00a0Ritter Planetarium and\u00a0Brooks Observatory.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0in search of\u00a0your stories and memories to better tell our story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory will celebrate their 50th anniversary Friday, Oct. 13.<\/p><\/div>As a child,\u00a0my first visit to a planetarium involved marveling at one of the old \u201cstar ball\u201d projectors, but\u00a0since then I have enjoyed being transported to black holes and other worlds with increasingly beautiful full-dome movies. These visits certainly had an impact on me, for I went on to\u00a0earn my doctorate in astronomy.<\/p>\n

The Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory are woven into the tapestry of this\u00a0region. What do you remember from your visit?<\/p>\n

In the 1920s, astronomy courses were offered through the Math Department at UT, so Professor Helen Brooks would bring students to her house to look through her personal telescope.<\/p>\n

The Ritter facility was dedicated Oct.\u00a013, 1967, with Brooks as the first planetarium director. The Brooks Observatory\u00a0located in the dome\u00a0on top of McMaster Hall was later\u00a0named in honor of Brooks\u00a0and her late husband, Elgin.\u00a0The 1-meter-diameter\u00a0telescope housed on top of the Ritter building\u00a0is the largest optical telescope in the United States east of the Mississippi River.<\/p>\n

The Ritter facility was\u00a0deliberately planned to blend research and public education for the University, local schools and\u00a0the community. One of the joys of astronomy is that people are inherently curious about it, and\u00a0so sharing our research and our telescopes with the community have been\u00a0vital\u00a0in our mission from the beginning.<\/p>\n

Helen Brooks died in 2011, two years before I came to Toledo. I never had the chance to meet her,\u00a0but some of you did. I would like to learn more about your experiences.\u00a0Did you attend any of the special events,\u00a0such as for Apollo 11 and the impact of the Shoemaker-Levy Comet on Jupiter? Have you taken your family to\u00a0experience\u00a0programs\u00a0in the planetarium\u00a0or public viewings with\u00a0telescopes\u00a0in the observatories?<\/p>\n

Additionally, with your permission, I would like to share your stories\u00a0through a poster presentation\u00a0at the\u00a0Astronomy Open House at Ritter Planetarium Thursday,\u00a0Oct.\u00a026,\u00a0to show the strong connection this community has for astronomy.<\/p>\n

Please send\u00a0your stories to me via email at\u00a0 jillian.bornak@utoledo.edu<\/a>\u00a0or mail a letter to The\u00a0University of Toledo Department of Physics and Astronomy at Mail Stop 111, 2801 W. Bancroft St., Toledo, OH 43606.<\/p>\n

I look forward to reading your stories. Keep looking up!<\/p>\n

Bornak is an associate lecturer in the Physics and Astronomy Department and chair of the\u00a0UT\u00a0Astronomy 50th Anniversary Committee.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Share your memories of UT’s Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,39,9,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/835"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46274"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46313,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274\/revisions\/46313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}