IU researchers use giant Arizona telescope for astronomy research in Bloomington

Each day numerous classes are held at Swain Hall West and hundreds of students walk through its halls, yet there is a room few know about that opens the door to galaxies and stars billions of light years away.\nWhile sitting in the Remote Observing Center, IU professors can access the WIYN Telescope in Tucson, Ariz., a part of the Kitt Peak National Observatory.\nBecause IU owns a 17 percent share of the WIYN Observatory, professors and students can use the telescope to research stars and galaxies, providing them new research opportunities.\n“Individual universities rarely have the resources to build something themselves,” said Catherine Pilachowski, chair of the astronomy department. “It means we can do research in ways we couldn’t do before.”\nIU has partial ownership of two telescopes operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, IU, Yale University and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. They all share ownership and research time at the facility.\nThe universities financed the construction of WIYN in 1994 and now the National Optical Astronomy Observatory pays for most of its operating costs.\nThis partnership of public and private universities and national organizations was the first of its kind, said WIYN Director George Jacoby.\n“If you have access to your own private facility then your faculty have a leg up and your students have a tremendous advantage,” Jacoby said.\nAssistant astronomy professor Katherine Rhode said WIYN serves as a good example for this type of partnership.\n“It’s been more commonplace, but the WIYN Consortium is often put forth as a really good example of how that can work,” she said. “The WIYN projects show how coming together can benefit everyone involved.”\nAlthough IU has its own telescope at the Kirkwood Observatory, those in Arizona offer better observations.\nPilachowski said the atmosphere allows for better observations in Tucson, which is 7,000 feet above sea level and experiences less cloudy weather than other parts of the country.\nThe WIYN telescope is also about 10 times larger than the telescopes in Bloomington, offering researchers a chance for much larger and more detailed observations, Pilachowski said.\nBecause of the technology, researchers can also access the WIYN Telescope without the hassle of traveling across the country.\nJacoby said it has been his experience that universities actually go to Tucson about half the time. \nWhile anyone can apply for research time on telescopes like WIYN, IU is guaranteed time each semester because of its partial ownership. \n“The fact that IU has access to WIYN is fantastic for astronomy and astrophysics,” Rhode said. “It helps us produce more thesis students who are guaranteed to have a better product.”