As a freshman in 2021, Max Novack tried out his fair share of clubs to put out feelers on campus to see where he fit. Now, he is the vice president of the Astronomy Club, and helps put on events like telescope viewings.
“I joined a bunch of clubs my first term on campus and this is the only one that made me feel welcome,” Novack said.
The Astronomy Club meets every other week and holds events with activities like James Webb Telescope origami movie nights, trivia nights and night sky viewings.
“We are a bunch of space enthusiasts. During the time of the year that we’re not surrounded by clouds all the time, we’ll take telescopes out and binoculars and we’ll peer into the void,” Novack said.
Competitions often occur between Emily Hiatt and Lily Ayola, the bureaucracy officer, and social media manager, to find the Andromeda Galaxy the fastest.
“(Lily’s is) a manual telescope, so she has to literally manually move it. I have been working on some of our automatic GPS tracking telescopes,” Hiatt said. “It’s really just like 50 people up on the observation deck and then me and Lily yelling at each other from across the roof.”
The dynamic between club officers transcends to the meetings as well. The club, which meets every two weeks in Weniger Hall 151, is open to everyone who wants to attend, even the public.
“We take accessibility seriously,” Novack said. “Whenever we have an indoor meeting, we broadcast it on Zoom so that people can attend if they can’t make it in person. We always make sure that if anybody needs physical accessibility, we can show them where the elevator is, we have a ramp to be able to get out onto the roof because there’s a step up.”
Ethan Lamé, the club’s quartermaster, said both the club’s officers and members don’t have to have any astronomy knowledge.
“(People have) never seen Jupiter’s band through the telescope. You can see Saturn’s rings in color, and you can see the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s really cool for people,” Hiatt said. “It’s definitely something that a lot of students are lacking and we’re here to fix that.”
The light pollution in Corvallis is minimal compared to a lot of other towns and cities and the officers feel that more students should realize that and truly look at the stars and the night sky.
“You know, you see the stars, but you don’t really comprehend–like that exists,” Ayola said.
Phia Morton, the club president, was unable to make it to the interview as she was presenting her research at the American Astronomical Society meeting in New Orleans. However, the impact that she has had on the club members will last past her graduation.
“It’s always been fun, because (Morton) sort of walks around and just tells you what to find. And then you see if you can find it,” Ayola said. “It’s really nice to have somebody there who can guide us so that when she graduates, we know where things are.”
The officers said they have a lot of respect for Morton–the research she does and the amount that she contributes to the Astronomy Club.
“We’re going to feel her loss next year for sure,” Novack said. “She’s very, very smart. She’s very nice and approachable.”
The officers all remember their first meetings fondly. Lamé went to his first meeting and connected with Hiatt immediately over the fact that they had both worked at Utah planetariums. Ayola taught Logan Lasala, the club’s general officer, how to use a telescope at their very first meeting. The club has fun together and they make lasting memories and friendships.
In the upcoming terms they have events planned to introduce even more topics to new astronomers.
The group will be running an open house for the physics department themed around astronomy at the end of the year. They are also bringing a group of students to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland next month, and are running a trip to Prineville Dark Sky Park. Those interested in updates on club activities can check their Discord server or their Instagram.
