Athens, Ga. – Oh, my stars.
The on-again, off-again saga of the University of Georgia’s Observatory took another happy turn this week when a second failure-one expected to keep the facility shut for months-was resolved after personnel from UGA’s Instrument Shop were able to make necessary repairs.
That means the schedule of public viewings is once again on target, according to astronomy professor Scott Shaw. The next will be Friday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. If the sky is cloudy, the talk will be “Interstellar Gas: The Rest of the Galaxy.”
“We’re sorry for all the confusion and inconvenience, but these things sometimes happen,” Shaw said.
The full schedule of open houses and viewings is back and on the web and may be found at www.physast.uga.edu/~star/.
The UGA Observatory, which had an equipment problem earlier this fall, was closed until a donor stepped forward to pay for repairs. A new schedule of events was then posted. Unfortunately, a second unanticipated problem shut down the Observatory, and public viewings had been canceled until further notice. The motors that power the dome failed but have now been repaired by UGA personnel.