The Campbell Reporter

Cover Story

Photograph courtesy of CSS Architecture

Look Out: Prospect High School's new observatory and high-powered telescope were mounted on top of the science building.

Starry Nights

Science at Prospect has staff on Cloud 9

By Alicia Upano

Nearly 400 years ago, Galileo Galilei found a way to reach for the stars. He took a rudimentary description of a telescope and created one with greater magnification, which he used to discover the moons of Jupiter, sunspots, and lunar mountains and craters.

This nighttime mariner paved the way for astronomers who looked to the sky for the answers to the universe. On his birthday, Feb. 15, science writers have thrown galas, universities have compiled science book lists and elementary teachers have used the day to show students how the sun spins.

The magic of observation and discovery is also not lost on the Campbell Union High School District, which installed a scientific-grade telescope in Prospect High School's new science building. CSS Architecture principal Mark Bartos, whose firm was hired to design the science building, says the telescope is a mix between a reflector, which Sir Isaac Newton used, and a refractor, used by Galileo in the 1600s.

The telescope is a marvel of sorts, a real innovative gem for the district. Only a handful of high schools across the country have a telescope of this caliber, says Terry Peluso, district director of student assessment.

The 10-inch Meade LX 200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, mounted on a steel pier, is located in a 7-foot-wide dome that opens and rotates with the Earth's orbit. Unlike Galileo, who pressed an eye to the telescope, contemporary scientists use a digital camera attached to the eyepiece to take long-exposure photographs for later study.

Prospect High School science teacher Pat Huddleston, the telescope's manager, is one of the first to use the scientific-grade instrument. During the fall semester, she programmed the telescope to photograph the Lagoon and Dumbbell nebulas, clouds of gas in space. She also photographed Messier 3, a globular cluster with nearly half a million stars. The closest object in these photos, she says, was nearly 4,800 trillion miles from earth.

For Huddleston, working with the instrument is "nirvana." Her first love was astronomy, which began when she was researching the skies for a sixth-grade project.

"I was right at the point when I was asking questions: Why are we here? How does the universe work?" Huddleston says. "It just lit me on fire."

When she was 16, she attended the International Science and Education Fair to showcase her theory of the universe's evolution. For college, she attended the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to study astrophysics, partly because the college was building a radio telescope on campus.

Huddleston discovered she loved astrophysics theory, but not the math. After she received her bachelor's degree, she pursued a master's degree in voice performance, but eventually all paths led back to science. She has been teaching science for 10 years at Prospect.

Planetary alignment

The observatory sits atop Prospect's new $4.3 million science building. The building, like those at Westmont and Del Mar high schools, was funded by the $95 million bond measure passed by voters in 1999.

CSS Architecture pitched the idea of installing an observatory in one of the new science buildings, and the district was keen on the idea. Prospect's flat-roof architecture enabled the architects to design a building that would blend with the existing buildings and support a dome, Bartos says. The science building's architect of record is Martin Dreiling, and Bartos is the observatory's "special ops" architect.

The dome came from Sirius Observatories in Australia, and was shipped to California for testing in Mountain View before it was delivered and installed with a crane at Prospect. Then, in order to make the telescope accessible, CSS Architecture began working with robotic telescope consultant Richard Bennion. Bennion designed the software that allows students to access the telescope over the Internet.

Teachers and students will be trained how to use the software and integrate the telescope into their daily lessons, Prospect High School Principal Rita Matthews says.

Prospect faculty is also discussing the creation of an astronomy class, and hosting a Night Under the Stars, where students take attendees on a tour of the universe.

Eventually, students in the district's five high schools will be able to access the telescope remotely. At Prospect, however, its presence has already prompted the creation of an Astronomy Club, led by science teacher James Kresge.

Like Huddleston, the students in the club have an early fascination with astronomy. For senior Bradley Monajjemi, it was practically a legacy; his last name means "astronomer" in Farsi, he says. Senior Jeffrey Booroojian had aspirations to become an astronaut since he completed an elementary school project. Prospect junior Chris Amstutz is a stargazer who enjoys meteor showers, and classmate Joe Johnson, also a junior, can remember the first time he saw the Milky Way as a child.

"We were camping in Big Sur, and you could actually see all the stars. You could see this band of white," Joe says.

Prospect Astronomy Club members hope the class will inspire more students to get involved in stargazing. Now, they're getting together to watch such space-related movies as Contact and Apollo 13, and planning a trip to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium.

Their teachers, Huddleston and Kresge, share their enthusiasm. While student Jeffrey is amazed at the vastness of the universe, Huddleston connects the heavens to the planet by pointing out to her students the unique set of circumstances that allow intelligent life to thrive on Earth.

"You come to the conclusion that we're a very small thing in a very large universe," Huddleston says. "We're also something very special."

Despite the students' interest in astronomy, Joe plans a career in computer programming, and Jeffrey wants to be an actor.

Yet Bartos says the observatory is not about creating future space pioneers.

"It's not that I hope they become astronomers; it's that we hope their minds are opened up to many opportunities," Bartos says.

These educational opportunities are what made a telescope a good fit for a high school, Bartos says. Astronomy involves the cross-pollination of many disciplines, including physics, math, photography, history and philosophy. The discipline even permeates into the arts. Romeo swore by the moon, and Vincent Van Gogh painted "Starry Night."

"What's better than opening up a window to the whole universe?" Bartos says.