Moorhead astronomy professor can now operate telescope from his couch
Professor Matt Craig can remotely operate the telescope in the observatory of the MSUM Regional Science Center.
By Robin Huebner
Inforum, July 5, 2023
MOORHEAD — A professor in the Minnesota State University Moorhead Physics and Astronomy department is getting a lot more sleep these days and more work done at the same time.
Matt Craig now has the ability to operate the telescope at the MSUM Regional Science Center near Buffalo River State Park from his Moorhead home.
“I can run the telescope from my couch,” he said.
Three of his students doing observatory research also have that remote access from where they live.
“We found we can get a lot more observing done when we don’t have to stay up all night,” he said.
Craig and his students are involved in two primary areas of research.
The university is part of an extensive NASA project looking for planets outside our solar system, including those that could support life. NASA launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, known as TESS, in 2018.
Craig also studies variable stars, or those that change in brightness over time.
With the old control system, he’d have to stay up all night at the observatory and move the telescope each time he wanted to capture a different object in the sky.
He figures over the last 10 years, he stayed overnight there on 60 to 70 occasions.