Timothy Stead said he was rummaging through old, packed-away boxes when he found three high-powered telescopes. From this discovery, the idea for St. Bonaventure’s astronomy club was born.
“I inquired about what (the boxes) were and discovered we had these brand new telescopes that weren’t being used,” Stead, a junior physics major, said.
Stead said he learned that David DiMattio purchased the telescopes that lead to the creation of the club SBU Orion.
The club’s initial interest meeting on April 9 drew 31 interested participants from a variety of majors, including physics, biology, chemistry, finance, education and Spanish.
Stead, the president of the club, said he is pleased with the first meeting’s turn out.
“One of the foundations of why we wanted to start the club was that we realized a lot of people are interested in astronomy, and they’re not just science majors,” Stead said. “We don’t want people to think that just because they’re not a science major, they aren’t welcome to use the science resources we have here.”
Club members plan on meeting on designated nights with clear skies at the observatory by the baseball fields. They are in the process of brainstorming ideas for possible open events, as well.
Stead said a major reason he wanted to start the club was the observatory, combined with the unused telescopes.
“We have an observatory that most people have never been in, and will probably never be in, so I decided why not use the resources we have to start something and let people use it.”
The observatory features a high-powered, 11-inch telescope at the top of the dome. There are also posts on the outside for two 8-inch telescopes.
James Pientka, the club’s adviser, and Aidan Wilson, club vice president and a freshman physics major, are the club’s resident astronomy experts, according to Stead.
Pientka, new to Bonaventure this year, is currently teaching an astronomy course called Stars and Stellar Systems, a substitute for Inquiry into the Natural World. Wilson has been an amateur astronomer since the age of seven, when he received his first telescope.
“I know very little about astronomy relative to what Aidan or one of the professors might know, but I still decided to start the club with Aidan,” Stead said. “We don’t want people to think that just because they don’t know much about astronomy they can’t join and look at the stars and learn, because that’s what it’s going to be for everybody. It’s a learning experience.”
