Ball State faculty and students now have access to research-grade astronomy equipment as a result of the university's recent membership in the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA).

Ball State becomes the first university outside the American Southeast to join SARA, a consortium providing member institutions with research opportunities for faculty and students.

"The consortium allows our students access to a research-grade one-meter telescope at an excellent site," said Ron Kaitchuck, physics and astronomy professor and director of Ball State's planetarium, who has been working on the project with Tom Robertson and Tom Jordan, also Ball State professors of physics and astronomy.

Ball State faculty and students observe with the SARA telescope through a secure Internet site from one of the astronomy research areas in Cooper Science Building, rooms 151 and 157. Participants remotely control the telescope and download images from the digital cameras.

The SARA telescope, located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in southern Arizona, is considered one of the best astronomical research sites in the continental U.S. since Kitt Peak rises 5,000 feet above the surrounding desert.

"Since we use the telescopes through the Internet, many more students will have access, not just the three or four lucky enough to travel to Arizona each year," Kaitchuck said. "Since the telescope operates remotely through the Internet, we save on time and travel costs. For both students and faculty remote observing means fewer missed classes."

And, since the new Internet-based system eliminates travel, there will be no more days wasted at the observatory due to inclement weather, he said.

Ball State will have 30 nights reserved for use of the SARA telescope, increasing research opportunities for faculty and students.

"More observing time on a well-maintained telescope produces more research, more publications and greater research grant opportunities," Kaitchuck said. "SARA will soon have access to a second telescope located at the Cerro Tololo Observatory, high in the Andes Mountains in South America. This will allow access to portions of the sky that are never seen at northern latitudes."

For more information, contact Kaitchuck at rkaitchu@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8871.

By Marc Ransford, Media Relations Manager