A new partnership between Florida Institute of Technology faculty and students will see the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex host astronomy events and science talks for thousands of future visitors.
In announcing the partnership, Florida Tech President John Nicklow quoted theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking: “Instead of looking down at your feet, look up at the stars. Try to make sense of what you see. Ask yourself why the universe exists. Be curious.”
Nicklow and Terin Protze, chief operating officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, signed papers and shook hands to seal the astronomy agreement during an on-campus ceremony Monday afternoon at the Homer R. Denius Student Center. Space Person, the visitor complex’s astronaut mascot, and Florida Tech’s Pete the Panther posed for photos.
Ortega Observatory:Years after Florida Tech’s research telescope broke, students are working to repair the damage
Staff at Florida Tech’s Ortega Observatory will be able to use a portable telescope at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to track the asteroid, Nicklow said. The visitor building that houses the Gateway: Deep Space Launch Complex has been constructed with an elevated platform to house the telescope, Protze said.
Researchers from the Florida Institute of Technology and the Orlando-based Florida Space Institute will use the telescope, which can fit into an enclosed trailer for transportation.
For example, the telescope could have traveled to a swamp outside Miami to detect the shadow of the asteroid Leona, which passed in front of the red supergiant star Betelgeuse during a celestial event last December, said Luis Quiroga Nunez, director of Florida Tech’s Ortega Observatory and assistant professor of astrophysics.
Protze said the idea for the telescope partnership was sparked by the late Sam Durrance, a retired NASA astronaut and professor emeritus at Florida Institute of Technology. Durrance, a planetary astronomer, served as a payload specialist on Columbia during STS-35 in 1990 and on Endeavour during STS-67 in 1995.
“Ortega Observatory will coordinate educational programs in observational astronomy at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, offering events, observing events and scientific talks by professors from aerospace, physics and space sciences,” moderator Quiroga Nunez said at Monday’s event.
Meanwhile, Florida Tech’s research telescope, which is listed on the home page of the university’s website, has been damaged and deteriorating since it broke down five to seven years ago inside Ortega Observatory at the top of the F.W. Olin Physical Sciences Center.
A team of students and faculty are working to repair and upgrade the damaged optics, which includes a 32-inch-diameter primary mirror. If all goes well, the broken instrument should be able to detect light again by the end of the year, Quiroga-Nunez said.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Command and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neal Neil is a space reporter for Florida Today. Contact Neil atcontact addressTwitter/X: Rick Neal 1
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