Eastern Arizona College’s Discovery Park recently hosted its annual Docent Appreciation Dinner, an event dedicated to recognizing and honoring the contributions of community volunteers who guide educational visits to the telescopes at the Mt. Graham International Observatory (MGIO). Joining administrators and community volunteers were operators of three world-leading telescopes.

The dinner event celebrated 15 docents. Special recognition was given to Bob Hiatt, operator of the 20” Tinsley Telescope at EAC’s Discovery Park, and Dan Faultner, Discovery Park maintenance technician.

Beyond the festivities, the event featured three distinguished guest speakers. Joseph Shields, director of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), shared a presentation on the design and operation of the world’s largest telescope, as well as recent research being done, including observations of a Supernova in Galaxy M101.

Robert Moulton, lead operator of the Submillimeter Radio Telescope (SMT), managed by the University of Arizona’s Arizona Radio Observatory, talked about the history of the telescope located on Mt. Graham. The SMT has played an integral part of the Event Horizon Telescope, which recorded the first-ever images of the black holes in “Galaxy M87,” and amazingly, “Sagittarius A,” the black hole that powers our Milky Way Galaxy.

Representatives from the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), Father Pavel Gabor S.J., director of the VATT, and Father Chris Corbally S.J., past director of the VATT and current president of the National Committee Astronomy – Vatican, also provided presentations. Father Gabor shared the history of the VATT and its 30th anniversary of operation this year. Father Corbally shared exciting information on using Spectrograph technology to decipher curious star behaviors and upcoming projects.

Educational visits to the telescopes at the Mt. Graham International Observatory are scheduled to resume in May 2024 and continue through October, contingent on weather and road conditions. For additional information, please visit eac.edu and click on “Get Tickets.”

EAC Discovery Park will offer a one-credit class “AST-129” in May 2024 for community members interested in serving as docents for the 2024 MGIO Tours. For further details, please contact (928) 428-6260 or email discoverypark@eac.edu.

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