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Show Construction of Wew Observatory for S USC sections of astronomy taught at SUSC each year. The astronomy laboratory also attracts a number of local residents. The Science Building observatory will be open this summer on Wednesdays from"' 9-11 p.m. Jones reports. Special astronomy lectures and observing sessions can be made by contacting the Department of Physical Science at 586-4411, 586-4411, ext. 245. A If " .A DONATION TO SUSC. This 1974 SUSC photograph shows observatory attendant Raymond Gardner and Merrell R. Jones, chairman of the SUSC Department of Physical Science, with a recently donated Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Now, a new SUSC observatory will be built, architectural work being donated by Gardner, now a Cedar City architect. Heaven will be a little closer for area star gazers on completion of a proposed Southern Utah State College observatory. Construction is expected to begin this summer on the facility which will include a domed observatory, dark room facilities, and a classroom-lecture area to accommodate about 30 people. The structure will be located west of the SUSC Valley Farm. It will be named the Theron A. Ashcroft Observatory Ob-servatory after the physics and engineering professor who taught at SUSC for 34 years between 1939 and 1972, and who was instrumental in developing the astronomy program at the college. The project is being completely funded through donations, from the facility location to actual building construction. Thesite-a five acre parcel located adjacent to the SUSC Valley Farm-was donated by Arthur Armburst, a W heaton, Illinois businessman. "This donated land is an ideal site for an observatory and is a very timely gift." Merrell R. Jones, chairman of the SUSC Department of Physical Science, said. "Because of the increasing in-creasing number of lights in Cedar City, the present observatory located on top the Science Building doesn't do justice to our equipment and we tend to get washed out citings," Dr. Jones said. Following Armburst's donation, the observatory site was selected and a graveled road made into the hilltop area by the Cedar City Corporation. Construction Con-struction of the road was also a donation. Architectural work on the project is being donated by Raymond Gardner, Cedar City architect and amateur astronomer. "It's interesting that when SUSC was given a large telescope in 1974, Gardner was working as an attendant at the college observatory and was included in the publicity shot," Jones said. The observatory will be constructed by SUSC building construction classes under the direction of Lyman Munford, assistant professor of drafting and industrrial arts education. Help has also been pledged, Munford said, by the Southern Utah Chapter, National Home Builders Association. Fund-raising efforts for construction materials are being made by Clayton Frehner, SUSC alumnus and ex-student body president. "As a cooperative venture, ven-ture, this project brings to mind a similar project in the history of the college which was completed through donations. This was the construction of Old Main in 1897," Dennis Agle, SUSC Director of Development, said. When completed, the observatory will house a 14-inch 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, anonymously donated to SUSC in 1974. With this telescope, observers ob-servers can see detail in planetary surfaces and dimmer objects such as nebulas and galaxies, and fine photographs, even spectrograms, can be taken. "These details will be even more distinct once the equipment is moved outside the ambient city lights," Professor Jones said. SUSC's present observatory ob-servatory was constructed in 1968 by Harl E. Judd, Dean of the School of Science, and his sons. The astronomy program was instigated at SUSC by professors Theron Ashcroft and Parley Dalley in the early 1950 s. There are currently two |