040 EXPANDING URANIDROME OBSERVATORY AT MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 17, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Office of News and Public Affairs, 615-898-2919

INNOVATIVE & EXPANDING URANIDROME OBSERVATORY AT MTSU
PROVIDES HANDS-ON LEARNING LAB FOR STUDENTS, SKY WATCHERS
Design Provides ‘Powerful Sense’ of Size of Objects in Solar System, Says Astronomer

Video story - The Uranidrome

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—Say “astronomy,” and most think of a telescope. Or, mention the word “observatory,” and many may envision a domed building with a telescope.
There is, however, an astronomical observatory at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro that has no telescope, no dome. It’s 90 feet in diameter, with 12 columns, each precisely aligned with the Earth and the heavens. The columns are inscribed with information about the Sun, Moon, Earth the other seven planets, as well as Pluto. Atop each column is a metal sculpture, some of which are abstract decorations and others that are formed to represent specific celestial observations. For some observers, it may conjure images of Stonehenge, Tiwanaku in Bolivia or Teotihuacán in Mexico. And if so, that’s fine by its designer, Dr. Eric Klumpe, who said he opted to pay homage to the ancient Greek astronomers by calling it the Uranidrome—URANI from the Greek word for “sky” and DROMOS, meaning “a large specially prepared place.” A professor of physics and astronomy, Klumpe said the original intent of the masterful and unique learning laboratory was merely to replace the old one on the east side of the MTSU campus that had been swallowed by athletic fields and bright lights. “All that we were talking about at first was a building to replace the old observatory,” he said. “The architect was very creative and put columns all around it. I asked him what they were for, and he said, ‘I don’t know. I just thought they looked cool.’
“But when I looked at those columns,” Klumpe continued, “something in my mind clicked. I wondered if we could take those columns and use them to do astronomy? Is there a way we can integrate that into the design?” From that fortuitous accident, the *now-award-winning design of the naked-eye observatory grew. And in addition to its 12 columns, the observatory also boasts a 32-foot image of the sun, with sunspots in the center of the plaza. Combined with the other planetary objects drawn to scale on the columns, Klumpe said this design provides a powerful sense of the relative size of the objects in our solar system. Moreover, the observatory also features a color-coded system for finding the North Star, while columns to the east and west are aligned with the spring and autumn equinox. Plus, there are several other features that a first-time visitor can use.
"It's really an education tool that requires time to use properly,” Klumpe has noted. “You can't exhaust all the functionality with a 15-minute visit. A student can spend four years here studying astronomy and still not exhaust the possibilities."
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Just to the east of the Uranidrome, a second phase of construction is under way, with the building of a traditional, domed observatory that will house a 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Piggybacked on the larger telescope, Klumpe said, will be a smaller solar telescope for daytime observations.
Per the professor, the telescope observatory is projected to be at the other end of the technology spectrum.
“I think we're part of a wave of how technology influences not only how we observe the sky, but how we communicate that information to the public,” he remarked. “The thing that I'm most proud of about the new observatory is that we're going from the long line of people, each entering a building and looking through an eyepiece one at a time. We’re getting away from that approach.
“Now,” he added, “people will sit around the exterior walls of the observatory looking at large plasma screen televisions, and a television camera that has a visual response superior to the human eye will be placed at the eyepiece. Now, dozens of people will witness in very large scale the same object simultaneously.” As for those who utilize the telescope observatory as an educational facility and tool, “The lecturer will have the ability to draw everybody's attention to the critical features that are important,” he observed. “It’s more interactive; people can interact with each other and the instructor. And I think that interactive social environment makes learning more fun and longer lasting, (because) you can do more in less time.” Another benefit of the new technology, Klumpe said, is that digital images from the MTSU telescope can be sent anywhere via the Internet. Thus, an observable celestial event in Murfreesboro may be shared with astronomers all over the world. At present, Klumpe estimates that second-phase construction will be completed around December 2007, but could extend until summer or fall 2008. “Currently, we have funds in hand for the telescope, the computers—all the things that support astronomical observation,” he said. “But it will probably take a couple of months for things to be purchased, set up, debugged and working as a unit.”
On the downside, “We currently don't have money to pay for the big-screen TVs, a sound system, DVD players and similar electronics,” Klumpe added, “ but I'm confident that the money can be found (so) if you add all these factors together, I would say spring of 2008. Realistically it could be summer or fall 2008.”
*Earlier this year, the Uranidrome earned an Honor Award for Engineering Excellence for Hart Freeland Roberts Inc., a Nashville-based engineering firm.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA—To secure jpeg images of the Uranidrome or a headshot of Dr. Klumpe, or to request interviews with Klumpe, please contact John Lynch in the Office of News and Public Affairs at MTSU at jlynch@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5591.