FEATURE
When Aurora Lipper looks through a telescope, she sees into the past. It takes light so long to travel to Earth that the faraway galaxies appearing in the lens may no longer be the same.
Starry objects can be tens of millions of light years away. So far out that light spent millions of years traveling to Earth, making the objects visible to humans.
“I just want to know more,” Lipper said. “The longer you look, the more you see.”
She’s been fascinated with the sky since she flipped through pages in a fourth-grade science textbook and saw Saturn.
Still, after many years of practicing astronomy, looking up at space makes her feel small. She loves it.
The educator is an 18-year veteran with the Central Coast Astronomical Society (CCAS) and has been the president for the past eight. A few Cal Poly professors started the group in 1979 to learn more about astronomy. Almost 50 years in, the club is still going strong.
At its core, CCAS is a community of stargazers. First-timers are welcome, too. There’s no starting requirement for equipment or skills, just a curiosity for the night sky. If participants have a telescope that they’re not quite sure how to use, a member will be happy to help.
“People think astronomy is super hard and you have to be super smart,” Lipper said. “That’s not the case.”
The organization’s main community engagement events are called star parties. Every month a small group of CCAS volunteers gathers at a spot free from too much light pollution, like Santa Margarita Lake, for the public viewing session. Between 40 and 100 participants join them right before sundown because once it gets dark, there are no white lights allowed. It takes about 20 minutes for the human eye to readjust to darkness after a bright exposure.
After guests arrive, Lipper gives an introductory talk, allowing the members to share about their telescopes. Participants may grab a small red-light flashlight to make sure they can see. Kids are allowed as long as they can follow instructions.
As the sky becomes darker and darker, more stars come out. Volunteers help stargazers peer into telescopes and explain what they’re looking at.
‘People think astronomy is super hard and you have to be super smart. That’s not the case.’
—Aurora Lipper, Central Coast Astronomical Society president
“I love the look on their face,” Lipper said. “It’s one of those few things, you could go up to a telescope, and in under 10 seconds have this wow moment.”
Upcoming star parties are scheduled for July 11 and Aug. 8, weather permitting. For more details, visit centralcoastastronomy.org.
Star parties have been staple events for a long time, but Lipper is also introducing new ways for the club to engage with the community. She recently started hosting a beginner astronomy night at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. The next talk is set for Sept. 5.
The evenings start with a half hour discussion and then the group goes outside for a “constellation tour” to put their new knowledge to the test. Donations benefit the garden.
“It gives them a little bit of an intro and then introduces them to the people running the telescope,” Lipper explained.
Not every volunteer must be an expert in the sky, however. Some are excited learners.
Despite all the knowledge Pete Roebber’s collected since becoming a member of CCAS in 1996, he maintains that it’s just a hobby.
“My daughter’s the astronomer,” he said at the June star party.
They initially joined the club together. Roebber thinks it’s one of the reasons his daughter became an expert in the subject. Now she has a Ph.D. in astrophysics, and he has a whole lot of passion for the stars.
“It’s a rewarding hobby,” Roebber said.
When the Atascadero resident was younger, he was inspired by the Apollo missions and his brother who studied observational astronomy in college. When he was in his 40s, Roebber bought his first telescope.
“Before that I had binoculars, and before that I just had telescope lust,” Roebber said with a laugh.
Ironically, a few other CCAS members might look at his equipment today with telescope lust. His setup is one of the largest in the group, a Dobsonian Newtonian reflecting telescope named Obsession that’s taller than he is. It’s named after the inventors of the optics and the mount, respectively. Wisconsin telescope maker Dave Kriege crafted the scope in 2001 especially for Roebber, as dedicated on a plaque at the bottom of the rig.
With one of the larger scopes in the club, Roebber usually draws a crowd of interested stargazers. He shows them right up to the eyepiece.
“I enjoy sharing with people,” he said. “Lots of people come out, and they say, ‘I’ve never seen that. What is that?’ And it’s kind of a teaching moment.”
During star parties, he points his telescope toward bright things because they’re easier to see. Right now, the sky is in a transitional period, he said, closer to revealing the center of our galaxy after spending the spring pointed away from the Milky Way. Globular clusters are prominent, big balls of thousands and thousands of stars that form a halo around the galaxy.
“As we move into summer, we get closer and closer to the center of the galaxy, or facing it, and there’s more and more really cool stuff,” Roebber said. “It’s like there are more things to look at than you have time to look at.”