IT'S IN THE STARS

The Limestone College Science Club wants to restore the observatory that has been vacant on the campus for the past two decades. A lunar eclipse and comet sightings periodically send county residents searching for a spot to view these astronomy wonders.

The Limestone College Science Club hopes to help by restoring the observatory on campus.

Limestone College students will meet Oct. 25 to clean up the observatory and determine the steps needed to renovate the building. It has not been used as an observatory in the two decades since the departure of former Limestone College professor Bill Pierce.

"The observatory is a wonderful piece of history," Limestone College Science Club member Kristen Smith said. "It deserves to be restored."

The observatory was built and used in Ohio. Due to health problems, the owner later moved to Blacksburg where he reassembled the observatory.

The public was able to use the observatory for a small donation for a number of years in Blacksburg.

Limestone College purchased the observatory for about $3,000 in 1971.

Former Limestone professors William "Bill" Pierce and William "Bill" Sutton were instrumental in relocating the observatory from Blacksburg to its present location beside the quarry.

"The two men disassembled an existing Limestone concrete loading dock, left on the premises from the earlier days of mining in the quarry," said Kerry Heafner, science club advisor and a Limestone College biology professor. "Groups of elementary and high school students came to campus to observe. At the departure of Mr. Pierce from Limestone, the observatory ceased to function."

Heafner's brother is an astronomer and a member of the Catawba River Valley Astronomy Club in Maiden, N.C. Astronomers from the Catawba club have offered to help Limestone students with the observatory project.

Heafner estimates it will cost a minimum of $2,500 to $3,000 to restore the observatory.

"The telescope has been disassembled. There is a big wasp's nest that needs to be removed from the mount where a telescope would go in the observatory," Heafner said. "The science club plans to make renovating the observatory their main project this year. We would like to eventually hold public viewing nights in the observatory. These have been very popular in communities."