Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory
The Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory is a state-of-the-art 20-inch robotically-controlled remote observatory on Palomar Mountain in California at an elevation of 5,000 ft. Relocated from the high desert of Rodeo, NM, the observatory supports key research projects requiring nightly imaging of galaxies. Named in honor of Michigan amateur astronomer, Dan Zowada, who tragically died of cancer at the age of 54, the observatory was kindly donated to Wayne State University by the 419 Foundation of Russ and Stephanie Carroll.
The Zowada Observatory consists of a 20-inch PlaneWave telescope on a Paramount ME II mount, which is housed in a 12.5-foot Astrohaven robotic clamshell dome. The telescope is equipped with an SBIG STL-1001e camera with LRGB and H-alpha filters. Sky conditions are monitored by an all-sky camera and a weather station. Featured photos courtesy of Sandy Shiloh.
Undergraduate teaching
The observatory will be used in undergraduate astronomy classes, particularly AST 4100/4200: Astronomical Techniques, giving students an observing and data analysis experience not possible from here in Detroit.
Research
A robotic telescope provides flexibility in observing and scheduling that is not possible with standard observatories that require an operator to be present each night. This lends itself to exploring "time-domain astronomy" the variability of astronomical objects over weeks to months. For instance, Professor Ed Cackett is using the observatory to explore the variability of light coming from gas as it falls into supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
Support
Your contributions further our mission of offering a rigorous education supported by a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences. Thank you for your interest in supporting the Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory.
Images captured from the observatory
