TALK TO US: Contact Thad Allender at (785) 864-4810 or photo@kansan.com
HILLTOPICS
6B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/FEATURES
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13,2001
The Portal to Space Photos by Thad Allender
The moon passes through a series of eight phases that repeat themselves every 29.5 days, according to NASA. These phases can be seen vividly through the lens of a telescope and researchers can document every corner of the moon.
Torry Crass knows his way around the sky. Driven by a life-long interest in the stars and planets, the Phelps, Wis., sophomore spends nearly every night looking at the sky through a telescope or maintaining his astronomy-based Web site, www.ukans.edu/~aal. Crass is also the president of the Astronomy Club, which meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second Sunday of every month in 412 Lindley Hall.
The Clyde W. Tombaugh Observatory, located on the roof of Lindley Hall, has helped to unlock some of the great mysteries of our solar system. While doing research for his Master's thesis in the 1930s, Dr. Tombaugh discovered Pluto using a fork-mounted Newtonian reflector scope, with a measurement of 27-inch in diameter. Today, the scope still rests in the same location. Through the years, the observatory has collected an impressive artillery of telescopes: a 6-inch refractor that was built in 1885 by the renowned telescope maker Alvan Clark; a Daus-Preston 14 inch, fork-mounted reflector; and a variety of 8-inch telescopes, three of which are computer driven. The observatory presently is seeking to upgrade the facility in hopes of making further contributions to astronomy. The observatory is free and open to the public every second and fourth Sunday of the month and begins observation at sundown.
April Jones, Baker University freshman, left, and Torry Crass, Phelps, Wis., sophomore, inspect the computer system during a late-night session Monday at the Clyde W. Tombaugh Observatory in Lindley Hall. Crass maintains the server for the Astronomy Associates, a Lawrence-based astronomy group.
Torry Crass searches for Mars through a 6-inch refractor telescope. The scope was built in 1885 by renowned telescope maker Alvan Clark. It is still in use today.