On Tuesday, Jan. 24, Michigan State University astronomer Stephen Zepf will use a telescope, located in the Andes Mountains of Chile, to peer at a galaxy millions of light years away in an effort to further our understanding of how the universe was created.
As if that’s not amazing enough, Zepf will conduct his research, not in the thin mountain air of Chile, but rather in the comfort of a remote observing room located in the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building on the MSU campus.
Media are invited to join Zepf and colleagues as they use the Southern Astrophysical Research – or SOAR – telescope to conduct this work. Media will be able to see what the astronomers are seeing, interview the scientists and get a feel for how this type of research is conducted.
The work is scheduled to begin around 8:30 p.m. in the observing room, which is located on the main floor of the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building. The facility is located on Wilson Road, just east of Farm Lane.
SOAR, a 4.1-meter telescope located atop a 9,000-foot mountain in Chile, is a joint project between MSU, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the country of Brazil and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories. The nation of Chile is a de facto partner.
SOAR provides images at least twice as sharp as older generation telescopes, and features some of the world’s most advanced technology, including “adaptive” optics that correct for both image motion and distortion due to atmospheric disturbances, and infrared capabilities, including an infrared camera, developed and built at MSU, that will be installed later this year.
The SOAR telescope was dedicated in April of 2004. While the telescope is still in its commissioning phase of adjustment and addition of instruments, it recently began collecting data.
Parking is available at several locations near the building, including the ramp on Shaw Lane west of the Law College, or the lot west of Abrams Planetarium.
For more information on the SOAR project, visit the Web at www.pa.msu.edu/soarmsu/