A new, state-of-the-art telescope was installed in the Boyer Hall Observatory at Arcadia University that will be used by both classes and the “Sky High” astronomy club on campus. 

The telescope will be showcased during the “Star Party” on Wednesday, March 8, at 7 p.m. The event is open to anyone on campus.

“With this new equipment, we are able to connect the telescope and its mount to a laptop and tell it where exactly to point in the sky,” said Paul Broccardi ’24, president of Sky High. “The telescope can also track the object it’s pointed at through the sky accurately up to a 3600th of a single degree. This functionality makes the observatory far more effective as an educational tool.”

Broccardi added that his Capstone project, which he will start in the fall, will be to make the observatory fully remote functional. This will allow the operator to open, close, and rotate the dome, as well as point, focus, and take images with the telescope from anywhere. 

The purchase of the telescope, a Celestron Edge 11” SCT, was made possible by an $8,000 Instructional Technology Committee grant awarded by the University. Faculty directors of the grant proposal were Dr. Tatjana Miletic, associate professor of Physics, and Kimberly Small, an adjunct professor at Arcadia who also serves as faculty adviser for Sky High.