 "Photo: Stephanie Colaianni")
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 "Photo: Stephanie Colaianni")
 "Photo: William Plate")
Up on the fourth floor of the Science and Engineering Building, Eric Vandernoot stays until 3 a.m. in a dark room lit only with red roped lights. He walks up a spiral staircase and finds himself gazing up at the sky. The thick summer air fills the observatory and sweat accumulates on his forehead, but Vandernoot feels most comfortable here.
He’s not a vampire or a demon worshiper, but FAU’s observatory lab coordinator.
“Come on in! Don’t worry, it’s not a weird Satan shrine,” says Vandernoot, referring to the oddly dark room.
To Vandernoot, the observatory’s most rewarding aspect is being able to appreciate things that you wouldn’t ordinarily see with the naked eye.
“The universe belongs to everyone, so we want them to see it and how cool it is,” says Vandernoot.
Unfortunately, the observatory is facing many problems, and FAU is not helping much.
The biggest problem for the observatory comes from the Science and Engineering Building itself. Constant vibrations from the elevator and air conditioning unit deny Vandernoot from taking pictures of stars and space.
“When they designed the telescope they didn’t consult an astronomer,” explains Vandernoot. “In 1979 [FAU] bought the dome, and [they] didn’t construct the building until 1995.”
Gary Perry, dean of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, explains that the building wasn’t built in the best location, and over the years it’s affected the observatory.
“When it was built the campus was a quieter place, [but] over the last years it’s changed and affected what we can do for astronomy,” says Perry.
Vandernoot is angered that no one consulted an astronomer when constructing the building. He feels that if appropriate precautions had been taken, he would be able to take pictures.
“Someone designs a building and doesn’t understand how things work,” says Vandernoot.
Even the slightest movement in the observatory can easily make blurred images.
“People walking up and down the stairs create vibrations. It’s very difficult to take images, even if you buy a camera that has anti-shake,” says Vandernoot.
He explains that because the objects that are seen through the telescope are so far away, the slightest movement can lose that image.
Not only is the building a dilemma for the observatory, but light pollution around campus is making problems worse for Vandernoot.
Light from nearby buildings, homes, airports and sports fields is the biggest cause of night blindness for stargazers. According to Vandernoot, the Henderson Field on the Boca campus is the worst.
“The Henderson Field is blinding!” says Vandernoot. “Half the lights aren’t pointed downward like they should be. There are 30,000 stars on any given night, but I can’t even see 30!”
It’s anticipated that the light pollution from the nearby airport and from FAU itself will only be worsening when the new football stadium is built.
“One of the problems we’re going to face with the dome on the roof here is [that] when they build the stadium, we’re going to have a lot of ambient light,” says Perry. “When you have an observatory and want to look at the heavens, you need darkness. Over the years, Boca has grown and the ambient light is becoming problematic.”
However, Perry and Vandernoot are devising a plan to reduce these problems.
“We had a thought about a year or two ago. As a philanthropic venture we had some people we thought were interested in helping us build a new observatory, but that’s sort of fallen through,” explains Perry. “We approached several foundations to help us with this, but philanthropic giving is really not terrific.”
Since Perry and Vandernoot’s initial idea for a new dome, they’ve expanded their plans and are looking to present them to the president and provost of FAU by next year.
“I was on a trip to England and went to an observatory in London. I came back with a picture and thought, ‘Hey, we can do something like this,’” explains Perry. “Our project has grown [to be] more than just building the observatory and moving the [telescope]. If we’re going to do it, we have to do it right.”
They have already picked a spot on campus that has minimal light pollution. According to Perry, they’re receiving help from Warner Miller, chair of the physics department, and Tom Donaudy, FAU’s architect and vice president for facilities.
Until their plans are finalized, Vandernoot hopes students will come to the observatory for enjoyment rather than just a source of extra credit.
“You don’t know how many times people come here and say, ‘Wow, this is cool! I didn’t know it was here,’” says Vandernoot.
Michael Kossin, a senior physics major, is one of the few who come in their spare time to visit the dome.
“I come whenever the sky’s clear and whenever there’s something cool out,” explains Kossin.
Perry and Vandernoot both agree that seeing what’s learned in class is the best type of education. According to Perry, there’s something spectacular about looking through a telescope.
“We can all go on the Web and see pictures from the Hubble, but there’s nothing like staying up in the middle of the night and looking up at a telescope.”
Night Blindness
Light pollution is artificial light that obscures the stars. Light from buildings, streetlights, sports fields, homes, airports and advertisements are the leading problems for any observatory.
It can also cause health problems. Over-illuminating lights can cause headaches, fatigue, stress, decrease in sexual function, and anxiety, but more serious problems include breast and prostate cancer.
Gary Perry explains that the only way to eliminate the observatory’s problems with light pollution would be to move the telescope off campus.
“The best location we would put it would be in the Everglades,” says Perry.
Both Perry and Eric Vandernoot agree that moving the telescope off campus would eliminate the problem of light pollution, but then students would never benefit from using it.
More than the average lab coordinator - Eric Vandernoot looks over the observatory as if it were his child
Before Vandernoot became the lab coordinator for the observatory, he was a TA for the astronomy classes and wrote all the online quizzes that are still used today. In Oct. 2005, Vandernoot started running the observatory, but his initiation to the job was unlike any other.
“When Hurricane Wilma came, roofing material landed on the dome,” says Vandernoot. “It literally pushed the dome and cracked the wheel. That’s how I started my job.”
One of the wheels that rotate the roof of the dome was damaged, and Vandernoot was left to fix it on his own.
“At one point I was, like, ‘How do I lift the dome?’” explains Vandernoot.
He was able to create a pyramid-like structure of bricks to lift the dome in order to repair the damaged piece. He fixed it for only $30.
Not only is Vandernoot the official caretaker of the observatory, but he also created a Web site for it and was the first to start a budget for the observatory.
His Web site gives a forecast of the weather so that students know when the best time is to come and see stars.
He considers himself to be a one-man staff but is looking for students to help him out.
“I’ve never been in a job where I’ve had little to no supervision,” says Vandernoot. “They trust what I do.”
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