By Margaret Collins, Staff Reporter.
Man’s ancestors have always been dazzled by the night sky and the spread of stars across it like so many jewels. The stars were commonly used to indicate the seasons and to help navigate across land and sea. A few thousand years later and mankind’s awe of the night sky has only grown.
At Delta College, that awe has been carefully preserved and nurtured in the form of the Astronomy Division. Since the 1980 reformation of the original Astronomy program that had died nearly a decade before when interest in the 1969 moon landing had faded, Delta has worked toward a successful Astronomy division.
The department’s story begins with Dr. Martin Goodson, who transformed public interest with the first Delta Planetarium into a wildly popular astronomy class. Then, the Astrolab served the same function as today’s modern planetarium. Today, it serves as an astronomical laboratory open to the students. Teaching astronomy and physics at Delta since 1977, Dr. Goodson has, as one of the longest serving professors still on Delta’s staff, witnessed the rise of the Astronomy division. “It began with just one section but we had to keep adding and adding sections and hiring staff. It was really something,” said Goodson.
Interest was so great that whole buildings have been built towards this purpose. In 1997, the modern second planetarium, in downtown Bay City, opened. It was purposefully built to house the new interest in the sciences and was designed as a physical metaphor for astronomy, deliberately incorporating the darkness of space into the color of the outer wings, the imperfect ellipses of orbits into the lobby shape and wonder of space into its architecture.
Another trait that puts Delta’s introductory astronomy program among the best in the state according to its staff and students are its phenomenal telescopes. In addition to numerous smaller pieces of equipment, they include two 12-inch and one fully motorized 15-inch Newtonian reflecting telescopes. No where else in the Great Lakes Bay Region is there such advanced equipment. Students are often amazed and humbled by looking to the stars. “Who knew we were so small!” said Tony Groulx, a student of Astronomy Professor Kevin Dehne’s.
Perhaps most important though, are the underlying messages professors hope students glean from their courses. As Balan emphasized, “Slow down. Breathe. Look up and observe the universe. It’s beautiful, and we can measure and carefully analyze it.”
