Astronomical society keeps eyes to the stars

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum has a full schedule of speakers this year as officials celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the facility that not only honors the legacy of Astronaut Neil Armstrong but all Ohioans who have made a different in the history of flight.

On Monday, Ohio Northern Professor Emeritus Earl Lhamon explained how the Lima Astronomical Society’s unlikely start came from Herb Doughty, who as an eighth grader noticed all of the people who were checking out books on astronomy. As Doughty made efforts ton contact them, a club was born.

Doughty went on to study at Cal-tech and worked in an observatory at Harvard and graduated from Ohio State. He recalled Doughty’s love of languages, even writing poetry for a stranger in Japanese in his youth.

One of the prominent figures in astronomy from the Lima Area is William Fowler, a Nobel Prize winner, who also worked on the Manhattan project.

Leslie Peltier, another Lima individual, discovered 12 comets and two Novae.

Lhamon also recognized former ONU professor Eric Baumgarner, who landed and operated Spirit and Opportunity rovers on the lunar surface.

Dr. Olin Glen Smith of Cridersville was recognized for his management work at the Apollo Space Station.

Lhamon also explained the origins of the Schooner Observatory and how in 1964 the club’s vision became a reality.

Club members built the 12.5-inch Newtonian telescope. Lhamon explained the grinding process, using different grits. He explained the lenses got passed from family to family, each with a different grit.

“It was quite a club project; it involved many people,” Lhamon said.

That telescope was replaced by a 14-inch Celestron CGE Catadioptric telescope in the 1990s and is still in use, with regular public viewing sessions in the summer starting in June.

Next month, on May 2, Bowling Green University Professor Benjamin Greene will be discussing the 1972 Geopolitical climate. In June, the museum plans to move the Learjet 28 Longhorn from the Neil Armstrong Airport in New Knoxville to the northwest side of the museum. Other speakers in June include Armstrong Biographer James Hansen on June 13 and former Lear Jet associate Mark Stear on June 23.