Stellar moves: Wayne State’s Zowada Observatory relocates to Southern California
After six years of successful celestial observations under the dark skies of Rodeo, New Mexico, Wayne State University’s Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory is relocating to Palomar Mountain in California. The move promises enhanced research and uninterrupted stargazing opportunities.
The fully-remote observatory, gifted to Wayne State in 2018 by entrepreneur Russ Carroll in memory of his friend Dan Zowada, has been pivotal for WSU’s astronomical research. The move to Palomar Mountain, closer to Carroll’s home in Southern California, offers several benefits, including a milder climate that allows for year-round observation, unlike in Rodeo, where summer conditions forced shutdowns to protect equipment. The higher altitude at Palomar also ensures excellent observation conditions — and although Rodeo’s dark skies may have been ideal, its remote location posed logistical challenges.
“Its location made it tough to perform necessary maintenance,” said Ed Cackett, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. “While we had great help from locals near the observatory, we faced significant downtime because we couldn’t get assistance to the telescope quickly enough.”
To ensure minimal downtime and year-round observation with the milder climate conditions, Carroll will continue to remain active in the telescope’s maintenance.
“The new site is only an hour from my home,” he said. “I’m able to get to the observatory quickly if there is an issue that requires human intervention. We also have cabins at the facility, which will provide much-needed support for working on the observatory. This will benefit us greatly in the future as we expand the mission of the site over time.”
The carefully planned transition involved the replacement of the older mount with a new state-of-the-art L-500 model from PlaneWave, manufactured in Michigan. Cackett and Hayden Hall, a graduate student, managed the move, which included transporting the telescope via crane and U-Haul to California.
The relocation supports key research projects requiring nightly imaging of galaxies. With reduced downtime and continuous observation, Wayne State will enhance its capacity for groundbreaking research and educational opportunities, while researchers look forward to expanding the observatory’s reach through public education and scholarship.
“The new facility is within an hour’s drive of millions of people, so it opens the door for many on-site outreach events in the future,” Carroll said.
When it comes to trailblazing research, the Zowada Memorial Observatory has exceeded expectations. The Department of Physics and Astronomy has secured a grant from the National Science Foundation, produced two Ph.D. dissertations and published 12 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with three more soon to be submitted. Perhaps the most exciting achievement is that Wayne State astronomy students have used the observatory to detect exoplanets: planets that orbit stars outside of our solar system.
What’s more, faculty have used the observatory to study light variations from galaxy centers, where supermassive black holes reside. By observing changes in light at different wavelengths, researchers map the area around the black hole, similar to sonar.
“This technique, known as reverberation mapping, allows us to measure the size of the region around the black hole,” said Cackett.
Data from the Zowada Memorial Observatory has been instrumental in international research efforts, working alongside data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Swift and NICER observatories, and other ground-based telescopes.
“We’re so grateful to Russ and Stephanie Carroll for their generosity in donating the telescope and allowing its use on Palomar,” Cackett said. “This move not only honors Dan’s memory but also puts us in a location rich with astronomical history, near the famed Palomar Observatory. The future is bright for the Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory and the incredible research it will support.”