"It is amazing to see something 50 million miles away so clear."

-Mary Lou West

After teaching astronomy at Montclair State for more than three decades, Mary Lou West approached seventh heaven Friday when the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee conditionally approved an astronomy concentration within the physics major.

Courses within the new concentration will include Astronomy for Science Majors, the Earth is a Planet, Astrophysics, Observational Astronomy and a research project.

Passionate about a science she describes as being communal, West also offers public telescope nights and invites stargazers to come to campus on Thursday nights to join her as she journeys through the sky. "We have great fun at telescope nights," said West. "We're looking at Mars lately so I invite people out to see the red planet."

Part astronomer and part storyteller, West couldn't resist explaining that although Mars is really orange, it's called the red planet because it is supposed to be a drop of blood shed by Mars the warrior. Also part sculptor, West used her knowledge of astronomy and mythology to help design "Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer," the aluminum sculpture in front of Sprague Library.

Montclair State's only astronomer professor recently stepped away from her telescope to talk about her plans for the new concentration and about public telescope nights.

Q. What is your next step for the astronomy concentration?
A. Part of the concentration involves doing a project, and this semester I have four students working with me. Juli Stoltz, a senior physics major, is looking at variable stars that get brighter and dimmer within clusters of stars; Hada Bitar, a senior chemistry major, is measuring pictures we took last year and this summer of the moons of Jupiter, and looking at the relative brightness of these moons; Marie McCrary, a junior physics major, is looking at twin stars that are eclipsing one another; and senior physics major Daniel Preisler is getting a series of pictures of an asteroid and, judging by its brightness, will determine if it is elongated and tumbling.

Q. Tell us about public telescope nights.
A. Every clear Thursday from the beginning of September to mid-December we gather on the patio in front of Richardson Hall between 8 and 9 p.m. to look through four telescopes. By clear I mean you can see the moon or 10 stars with the naked eye. If the weather is nice, we often stay to 11 p.m. And since we have no observatory...yet [she said with a grin], when it gets very cold we stop at 9:01.

I run telescope nights with Juli, my student assistant. We also have a 50-member astronomy club here, the North Jersey Astronomical Group, and club members pitch in, too, including Joe Marzullo of Physical Plant. He's a wonderful observer, great with children and sometimes brings one of his own telescopes. (Click here to read more about Marzullo's involvement.)

Q. Who participates in telescope nights?
A. We get a lot of students and professors coming out of classes, my students are required to attend one night during the season, and people from the surrounding communities. We usually get 50 to 100 participants, so while people are waiting for a telescope we chat or teach people how to read maps of the constellations. The first Thursday of every month is family night, so we start a half hour earlier when the 4- and 5-year-olds, who often show up in their pajamas, get preference on the telescopes.

Q. How much longer will we have an optimal view of Mars?
A. Through the end of October. But Mars is pulling away. It looks smaller in the telescope than it did early in September, but it is still beautiful. The southern polar ice cap on Mars, which covers 20 percent of the planet, is melting because it's summer on that hemisphere. Through the telescope, Mars is an orange disk and the ice cap looks like a little white pearl glued on the side. It is amazing to see something 50 million miles away so clear.

Q. What is it that makes Mars so alluring?
A. It is the planet most like the Earth. It has a 24 1/2-hour day, four seasons, snow, mountains and valleys, and an atmosphere with clouds. With the proper breathing apparatus we could live there just fine, though it's a little cooler because it's farther from the sun. In the winter it would be like living in Alaska, and in the summer temperatures average 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. It's also the planet that has spurred a lot of science fiction writers. People say that Mars is the place to go if we ever have to go anywhere.

Q. What is the story behind the sculpture in front of the library?
A. In 1988 Montclair State got a grant to build the statue. However, the granting agency said the art department had to get another department involved. Mac Adams, the sculptor, who liked the story of Ophiuchus, chose astronomy. Because it is a shadow sculpture, the most important aspect of it is not the aluminum structure at the top but rather the concrete disk base. When the shadow hits the disk on the right day, Ophiuchus appears. We chose noon on graduation day, which that year was May 24, hoping that graduating students contemplating the sculpture would rejoice that they too had conquered their own snakes of knowledge.

Go back to the Insight index