The college is well on its way toward the goal of opening the observatory by the summer of 2007. LC recently received a $50,000 grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation to help build the observatory, which will cost about $200,000.
"What surprised me was I didn’t have to convince anybody it was a good idea," Sumerlin said.
Claytor is a perfect setting for sky observation — unhindered by the light pollution of cities. The observatory will be completely isolated from any direct artificial lighting and sheltered from virtually all indirect lighting. The property is about five miles away from Bedford and 25 miles away from Lynchburg.
"You go to some places and the moon is all you can see," Sumerlin said. "I don’t know when I had this epiphany about Claytor. …Those dark skies are a real resource."
The setting will provide the required conditions essential for conducting stellar and planetary research. "It will let us do some pretty serious undergraduate work," Sumerlin said. Few colleges and universities enjoy access to such sites. When completed, the LC facility will be one of the most publicly accessible dark sky observatories in Virginia.
Sumerlin said the college has had preliminary discussions with the Blue Ridge Astronomy Club about exchanging access to the equipment in return for doing outreach that will allow the public access to the facility at prescribed times.
The observatory will feature a 16-inch telescope with a digital camera attached. At some point, Sumerlin hopes to do remote access, allowing the telescope to ship images back to campus for study. The observatory will also allow the college to offer a lab component to its astronomy classes, which Sumerlin created while on a sabbatical in 2003-04.
The 900-square-foot structure will be built at one of the highest points on the property, approximately 960 feet above sea level, and will benefit from a virtually unobstructed view of the night sky along the full horizon. No trees have to be cut to build the structure.
The college enjoyed earlier support from the Parsons Foundation in 2000, receiving $20,000 toward the construction of the A. Boyd Claytor III Education and Research Facility at the Claytor Nature Study Center. This 7,700-square foot facility has enhanced the college’s educational and outreach programs, offering LC students and regional K-12 students and teachers an ideal resource for conducting hands-on, laboratory-based environmental research. The college is seeking further private funding for the observatory.
The 470-acre Claytor Nature Study Center was run as a farm from the late 1700s until the mid-1990s, when it was given to the college by A. Boyd Claytor III. It is now managed for environmental conservation and restoration as part of agreements with the Virginia Outdoor Foundation and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.