About Us

History of Elk Creek Observatory

Elk Creek Observatory was founded in November 2000 on the Holton High School Campus, in Holton, Kansas. It was originally built with grant funds from the Christa McAuliffe Grant Foundation, named after teacher Christa McAuliffe, who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster. The grant was written by Karen and Mike Ford.

The original grant was in the amount of $31,200, which funded a 14" telescope, robotic mount, fiberglass dome (don't get one of these!!!!), and a CCD camera. Unified School District 336 also assisted with the funding for the building, which was designed and built by Bob Phillips Woods class. The observatory was done in late October 2000 and dedicated by Dr. Bruce Twarog, Professor of Astronomy at Kansas University, in November 2000.

Students learned how to do CCD imaging (see images link) and how to use the images for research.

The summer of 2003, the students wanted to get a larger telescope to use for projects. In July, Elk Creek Observatory housed a Meade 16" LX 200 GPS telescope for projects. This enabled them to get more light gathering power (a larger lens) for projects.

In May 2003, Mike Ford presented a program to the Holton High School Alumni about the observatory. Since no one knew the observatory existed, it was a great opportunity to explain the facility and tell what projects were being worked on by students. After the presentation, several alums expressed interest in the project. Alum Bill Zirger had asked what would be the ultimate to work with and how much would it cost. After thinking about this for a couple of weeks, a list of equipment was put together with the cost. The entire package was right around $150,000!!!! The material list and cost was sent to Bill, where he and fellow alum Dennis Blossom talked to another alum, Senator Pat Roberts about getting this funded for the school district.

In December 2003, Senator Roberts called and talked to Coach Brooks Barta to congratulate him on winning the State 4A Football Championship AND told him to tell Mike that he had put in an appropriation for the observatory in the 2003 budget. Another phone call was received later in December from Senator Robert's assistant, Keith Yahle, who said the budget had passed the House, Senate and was on its way to the President to be signed into law. At that point, the newly equipped observatory was a reality. The appropriated funds would be through the Department of Education's Technology Initiative Program.

February was a busy month writing a grant to the Department of Education to show how the funds would be used and people involved in the project. Upon completion of the grant in late March, it was approved in June and allocation of funds began in August.

As of November 2004, a new dome has been installed (16.5-foot Ash Dome which I highly recommend), the new robotic mount, new Dell computers, software, a new large format STL-1301E CCD camera from Santa Barbara Instruments Group and a new large Starlab Portable Planetarium!! The telescope optical tube is a RC Optical Systems 20-inch Ritchey Chretien, which we had used at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. The optical tube was shipped out of Flagstaff, Arizona on Monday, November 29 and arrived on December 6th !! All of the electronics were received on December 7th!!

With the kind assistance of Gary Hug of the Northeast Kansas Amatuer Astronomers League (NEKAAL) and HHS Advanced Space Science students, the observatory will be up and running in late December, early January.

A re-dedication will be scheduled in March 2005!!!

Goals of Elk Creek Observatory:

Elk Creek Observatory is a public observatory/research facility to teach students and interested others research techniques in astronomy. Upon completion of the observatory, our group will be working on various projects to include black holes, blazars, occultations, extra solar planets, and Near Earth Objects. Students will also learn to work with astronomical technologies used in research to include CCD cameras, filters, and various software to analyze their image data. Students will also be working with NASA Project Scientists and submit their observations to various NASA agencies.

In addition to research, Elk Creek Observatory will be hosting observing nights for the public to view through the new 20" telescope and the 14" telescope on specific nights, depending on weather conditions. Students will also be assisting with these sessions. Everyone is invited to come and view universe!! Please check with our link on the main page for information, or check the Holton Recorder.

We can also present programs at your various functions or civic groups or various organizations may also schedule the observatory for viewing, depending on availabilty of the observatory.