Astronomy
WE CALL IT “A HANDS-ON OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN FROM THE GROUND UP”
The original Elk Creek Observatory was founded in November 2000 on the campus of Holton High School, in Holton, Kansas. It was originally built using grant funds from the Christa McAuliffe Grant Foundation – which was established to honor the memory of teacher Christa McAuliffe, who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster. This original grant was in the amount of $31,200, and it funded a 14” telescope, robotic mount, fiberglass dome and a CCD camera. Unified School District 336 also assisted with the funding of the building. The Elk Creek Observatory is the only school-owned observatory in the world.
In November 2004, thanks to the help of Kansas Senator Pat Roberts (who secured funding for the project by the Kansas Department of Education’s Technology Initiative Program), and numerous supportive donations and grants, the initial step in creating the Banner Creek Science Center was taken. The BCSC purchased the latest in astronomical technology – the 20-inch Ritchey-Chreitien telescope. Shortly thereafter a new 16.5 foot Ash Dome was installed, along with a new robotic mount, new Dell computers, sophisticated software packages, a new large-format STL-1301 CCD camera and a large, new Starlab Portable Planetarium. These components contributed to the further creation of what is now an observatory of the greatest magnitude – and the largest of any such facility in any K-12 educational community, in the world.
This facility has since allowed students to become involved in a significant number of astronomy projects. They include studying black holes, occultations, extra solar planets and near-earth objects (asteroids). Students are also given the opportunity to work with NASA Project Scientists, submitting their observations to various NASA agencies on a regular basis.
Under the direction of Michiel Ford, the center’s Director of Astronomy, the Elk Creek Observatory was transitioned from simply an observatory to a robotic observatory. The facility has since been accessed robotically by students, teachers and astronomers from all over the world. The facility has remoted approximately 120 different people from the United States, Europe, Australia, Spain, Chile, Bolivia and Mexico, since the observatory was equipped to do so. The new equipment will allow us to considerably expand this remote-access opportunity and expand the number of participants.
In addition to these numerous remoting activities, the observatory has done a number of web conferences with Japan. Today, these conferences are broadcast on a regular, monthly basis. The observatory is also used for public events – at least one per month – and during special events such as the Mars Apparition, Total Lunar Eclipses, etc.
Both the Holton High School and area college students are afforded the opportunity to work on various “observing projects” with other university students throughout the United States. This opportunity also includes observational programs with NASA. These projects contribute to building and honing each participating student’s data interpretation techniques – while they simultaneously make significant contributions to various missions.
In the future, BCSC students will benefit from programs covering each of the following:
Active Galaxies
Blazars
Near-Earth Objects (Asteroids)
Extra Solar Planets
General Public Observing
The BCSC students will also learn to work with the numerous astrological technologies used for research, inclusive of CCD cameras, filters, and software necessary to analyze image data.
Visitors to the BCSC will also enjoy special presentations within the state-of-the-art digital theater. There, presentations will be made to showcase the power and wonder of nature – many of which were, and will be, photographically-captured own on the BCSC premises.
YOUR DONATION TO THE BANNER CREEK SCIENCE CENTER
Will Support America’s Most Unique Educational Facility from the Ground Up.
