With its 24-inch mirror pointed toward the skies, more than 100 visitors flocked to Onalaska beginning at 11 p.m. on Monday, July 28, for a public star-gazing event using the Turner Telescope inside the Onalaska School District’s Herold Observatory.
During Monday night’s event, visitors were treated to views of the Messier 13 star cluster, the Ring Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy, among other heavenly bodies thousands of lightyears away.
Taking attendees on a tour of the heavens were retired Onalaska High School science teacher Johnny Garcia and long-time Weyerhaeuser employee and amateur astronomer Ed Herold — who helped construct the observatory and for whom it is named.
The idea to put an observatory in Onalaska came about after Garcia started an after-school advanced science program where students could choose which subject they wanted to learn more about. One of those students just so happened to be interested in astronomy.
“I decided to (apply) for a grant for a telescope. I was thinking a telesecope like a Celestron 12-inch, something we could take outside, that was portable,” Garcia said.
As he began to talk to colleagues, he was introduced to Herold, and the proposed telescope began to quickly grow in size. Eventually, it was proposed to just go ahead and build a complete observatory.
During this time, Garcia was also introduced to Onalaska local Mike Turner, the machinist after whom the telescope is named.
Turner was instrumental in helping secure grant funding as he designed the telescope to be low to the ground to ensure young children and those with mobility issues in wheelchairs could still use it.
“Telescopes this large normally are not easy to look through the eye-piece. This telescope is a modified Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, which has a 24-inch mirror, which is the largest mirror of any public telescope in Western Washington,” Garcia said. “So it’s actually the largest public telescope in Western Washington. The closest one that is slightly larger than ours, but not by much, is Goldendale.”
The mirror on the Goldendale Observatory State Park’s largest telescope is just a half-inch wider in diameter than the Herold Observatory’s.
While there are privately-owned telescopes in the state larger than both Goldendale’s and Herold’s, they’re restricted from the public as they’re usually reserved for academic or scientific research.
Working with Herold, Turner and others, Garcia was able to obtain $35,000 in grant funding from Weyerhaeuser, along with around an additional $20,000 through local fundraising efforts.
“This telescope was built entirely off grant money and donations,” Garcia said.
He added the Onalaska School District was supportive throughout the entire construction process and still supports him even in retirement, allowing him to keep keys to the school to shut off all the lights for stargazing events at Herold Observatory.
“I’m spoiled because the school district gave me everything,” he added.
Continuing to hold public stargazing events is Garcia’s way of thanking both the school district and the community. Given that the Turner Telescope is the second largest public telescope in the state, Garcia told The Chronicle visitors come from throughout the region, including as far away as Lake Tapps and Longview.
While there is no set schedule for when Garcia hosts public stargazing events at the Herold Observatory, events are announced on a calendar on the Onalaska School District’s website, and those interested in visiting can also sign up for an email list to receive notices of upcoming events by scrolling to the bottom of the website.
“It is me volunteering, so I don’t open it constantly,” Garcia added.
Star-gazing events are also weather dependent, so be sure to check the forecast before visiting.
To view the Herold Observatory’s event calendar and sign up for email updates for stargazing events, visit the Onalaska School District’s website at https://www.onysd.wednet.edu/page/onsd-observatory.
The Herold Observatory is located in the field north of the Onalaska Middle School at the end of Bunker Avenue off of Sixth Street West in Onalaska.
