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Brownsville’s Southmost Public Library Observatory once again has an eye on the cosmos now that the facility’s 14-inch reflector telescope has been re-installed after repairs to the dome, and it’s just in time for the much anticipated “ring of fire” annular solar eclipse midday on Saturday.
The re-installation took place Thursday afternoon after work was completed to replace the observatory’s dome, which broke during a public event a few years ago, according to Richard Camuccio, chief scientist for the South Texas Astronomical Society (STARS), which partners with the city of Brownsville, which originally built the observatory mostly with Community Development Block Grants from HUD.
The grand opening took place in August 2017. Camuccio, who was asked by the city to help get the observatory going again, said the way the facility is set up, the electric motor that rotates the dome requires a gentle assist from humans.
“You had to have a couple of people around the perimeter kind of push the dome,” he said. “Somebody pushed too hard, caused torque, and the dome popped off. For a couple of years now we’ve been trying to restore the dome.”
The facility is roughly 16 feet in diameter, enough to accommodate a handful of stargazers, who can take turns looking at the heavens through the rear of the telescope, though STARS is planning to connect it to a TV screen via a USB camera so everyone can have a look.
“It’s a really good telescope,” Camuccio said. “Unfortunately, Brownsville’s at sea level. The air quality is good but it’s got a lot of moisture in the air, so we’re limited really by that. It’s in the middle of Southmost, so there’s light pollution. But on a clear night and if it’s dark enough … that 14-telescope could be actually used for quite a bit of science.”
“In principal, that telescope, if you have a good camera on the back of it, it can do a lot,” he said. “You can see nebulae, galaxies. It can track asteroids. It could even do measurements if you wanted to.”
For example, equipping the telescope with a certain type of astronomical camera would allow it to measure the brightness of stars, which is basic photometry, Camuccio said.
“One could do all sorts of measurements: Find the temperature of a star, track an asteroid’s location, or detect the transit of an exoplanet around another star. (Those are) just some examples,” he said.
Before it broke, the observatory was being used for occasional STARS public outreach events but not much else, Camuccio said.
“It was very underused,” he said. “It was mainly used for casual observing events. A lot of them were during the daytime, so you really couldn’t do much. If the moon was out you could look at it.”
Camuccio, who is also the assistant director of Brownsville’s other observatory, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Dr. Cristina V. Torres Memorial Astronomical Observatory, and one of the first doctoral students in UTRGV’s new PhD. Program in physics, said he wants to get high school students out to Southmost Observatory.
He already has experience teaching undergraduates and helping high school students get their science projects to state-level competitions, often using observatory data that he’s trained students to collect, he said.
“Aside from the outreach stuff, that’s kind of like the plan for what we’re doing out there,” Camuccio.
As for Saturday’s eclipse, Southmost Public Library, 4320 Southmost Rd., has a public viewing event scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Camuccio said the telescope is perfect for watching the eclipse, though filters have to be installed.
“Basically you put a big filter on the front of the telescope, kind of like a cap,” he said. “You might need to put small filters on the back side, but really all you need is a bunch of filters and then you can actually point the scope and look at the sun safely, and you can take pictures and video of it. Now if you don’t put a filter on front, not only will it damage your eye but it could actually destroy the telescope.”
Eclipse-viewing glasses will be available at the library while supplies last. According to NASA, looking directly at the sun during an annular eclipse without specialized eye protection can cause permanent eye damage.
