Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider

By Gates Guarin

‘The sky’s the limit’: local astronomy club revels at new NASA telescope images

Jul 14, 2022 | 12:30 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB – The final frontier is upon us. At least, photos of it are.

Earlier this week NASA produced the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, showing the clearest pictures of the cosmos known to humankind. The telescope launched from Earth late last year, and now sits approximately 1.6 million kilometres away.

The stunning photos of galaxies far, far away have piqued the interest of the Medicine Hat Astronomy Club, which has recently installed a new telescope.

Club secretary and treasurer James Paulson says the photos from the Webb Telescope are a vast upgrade on the Hubble telescope and adds the images the club has targeted have been the same as NASA’s.

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The new telescope at the Sunridge Observatory just south of the city is operated by members of the club, and is currently being calibrated and will be fully operational by fall.

Paulson hopes the images released spark a new interest in Hatters who may want to add a little more to their stargazing experience.

“The images are very stunning, there’s only going to be more spectacular discoveries coming, and astronomy’s a big field,” Paulson says. “There’s a lot of things to learn.”

Paulson says the club is made up of those who just enjoy what the cosmos can bring.

“We’re not professional astronomers out here, obviously,” Paulson says. “We’re amateur astronomers, that’s what we call ourselves, and we enjoy astronomy as a hobby, not necessarily as a science. But that’s not to say that you can’t go on and pursue the science aspect of it.”

Paulson adds a keen interest in science could certainly lead to a career in the stars.

“I’ve been in organizations where people start out as amateurs and go on to become professionals,” says Paulson. “One of the people that I worked with 20 years ago as an amateur astronomer today is probably in charge of [the Webb] telescope. She oversees all the telescopes for NASA. The sky’s the limit. It’s just that big.”

The club has big plans in the coming months, as it is set to host a stargazing meetup in September in the hopes of attracting amateur astronomers from all over western Canada.

If you would like to contact the Medicine Hat Astronomy Club, Paulson says the best way is through the group’s Facebook page.