| The Gaston Gazette
After selling property in Myrtle Beach, Chris Ayers and Vicky Willis Ayers turned to land that’s been in the Willis family for a long time, but not to build their dream home.
Instead, on Bear Creek Road between Bakersville and Spruce Pine, they built an observatory, a place to use the latest technology to glimpse the universe in an area of dark skies nestled between three ridges where Vicky Ayers’ grandfather used to mine, preach and shoe horses.
With money from the sale of the property, they’ve made it one of the best observatories in the Southeastern US, according to Chris Ayers, who hopes it isn’t just a place to stargaze, but a gathering place for the community and a resource to help students dive into astronomy and science.
“Our main goal is outreach to students,” he said. “There’s nothing more important than that.”
Having always been interested in science and a newcomer to astronomy, he said he’s found the astronomy community to be “so helpful,” and called the observatory “the two of us wanting to give back to the community.”
The observatory has five premium telescopes, including Astro-Physics 175 and Astro-Physics 140 telescopes, and a PlaneWave 20 astrograph for astrophotography, which Ayers says is likely the best in the state.
Willis observatory’s Lunt 152 solar telescope provides close views of solar flares, and the accessible professional binoculars on a 360-degree mount have solar filters to allow viewing of the sun, and the moon during daylight, Ayers said.
“It’s wonderful news to hear,” said Britt Lundgren, assistant professor of physics and an astronomer at UNC Asheville. “The dark skies that we have access to in the Blue Ridge region is really something that I would like to see more people taking advantage of.”
She said while she didn’t know many details of the observatory, there’s definitely a need.
Before the pandemic, UNCA hosted monthly stargazing events at its Lookout Observatory, which often had waitlists of 100 people or more wanting to attend, she said.
Nestled between three mountain ridges and spread across three acres of open field along Bear Creek, Willis Observatory enjoys relatively dark skies and sits 2,825 feet above sea level.
Ayers said that, along with the equipment, educational outreach, having two PhD scientists on board and the family-friendly atmosphere set the observatory apart, and while he said he’d love to be on the top of a mountain with no neighbors around, “we can’t complain.”
The 20-inch PlaneWave20, he said, is the same telescope used at the University of Kentucky, and Lundgren noted that the largest one at UNCA’s observatory is a 14-inch telescope.
That and the relatively dark skies in Bakersville should make for an optimal observing opportunity, she said.
She noted the university’s partners at the Astronomy Club of Asheville, who operate Grassland Mountain Observatory, offer some similar opportunities, and according to the club’s website, a 16-inch telescope.
Educational outreach will be a focus for Willis Observatory, and Ayers says he’s ready to share knowledge on deep space photography of things like galaxies, nebulas and star clusters, and will give free admission to all local students, teachers, school employees and artists, whenever the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
“COVID has put us behind in terms of opening up, but we look forward to sharing the universe, showing off the universe once we’re open,” Ayers said.
And stargazing experiences can go a long way to getting people interested in science, said Lundgren, who uses the New Mexico-based Sloan Telescope as well as the Hubble Telescope on her work 3-D mapping the universe and studying how galaxies form and change.
“One of our favorite things to do with our staff and students at UNCA is get people looking through a telescope for the first time,” she said.
It’s a visceral experience, Lundgren said, especially seeing Saturn for the first time, that for many people is the gateway to being interested in science. And the more observatories are in the region, the more accessible it becomes.
“The more of it the better,” she said.
Deep space photography is different from planetary, lunar or solar photography, and involves processing data sets gathered by astrographs like the one at the observatory, he said.
Part of the educational outreach are the efforts of two PhD scientists, Naveed Moeed, an astrophysicist with a degree from Kent University in England and who has focused on astrophotography and subjects like near-earth objects and interstellar dust, and Andrew Zeidell, the “hometown physicist” with a doctorate in solid state physics living in Alexandria, Virginia and working for the University of Nebraska.
Both helping out on a volunteer basis, Moeed will conduct university outreach, and Zeidell educational outreach, including one video he’s already done for Willis Observatory’s YouTube Channel, “Nature’s Galileo: How Jumping Spiders See the Moon.”
Zeidell grew up on Bear Creek Road, where the observatory is now ready and waiting for an end to the pandemic to open its doors.
“I honestly wish that this had existed when I was a kid,” Zeidell said.
It wasn’t until he was in his 20s, studying to be a residential electrician at Mayland Community College in Burnsville, when an astronomy teacher became a mentor and encouraged him to pursue his PhD.
“I would personally love to see this inspire young kids to get into science,” he said. Then they could go through the same route – to Mayland and then on to even higher education.
“Personally, that means a lot to me, because I come from the mountains,” he said, and part of that is giving people from the mountains, who may have the interest but no other access, a resource like this so it can help them pursue higher education and enrich their lives.
The sentiment was echoed by Moeed.
“If we can inspire just one child to a career in space or astronomy, then I feel we’ve fulfilled out mission. But hopefully we’ll inspire many more than that,” he said.
And speaking of that industry, he said “the space sector is going to be a booming industry over the next two decades, and we will need more space scientists.”
It’s even more important, as the focus of those industries is led a lot by science and astronomy, Moeed said, calling it “an exciting living science that is only growing in interest, especially with the kind of things that Elon Musk is doing with space.”
Many in the field got their start in “backyard astronomy,” he said. That’s what they want to give visitors at the observatory.
“Especially with the research-grade scopes we have, the kind of experience we want to give them is the kind of projects PhD students and researchers actually do in their work,” Moeed said. “Giving them a taste of what it’s like to do a sky survey, what it’s like to actually do an in-depth astrophotography project and just building the excitement of how professional astronomers and astrophysicists work.”
He said one goal could be to have students actually contribute to ongoing research projects around the globe, as many need a wide variety of data and information.
Ayers relayed a story from a nearby observatory in Little Switzerland, which recently had someone stop by and thank them for letting them come 20 years before and view Saturn. The person now works at a world-famous observatory in Hawaii.
“We want to see kids get excited about science, astronomy” he said, noting also the intrinsic, in-the-moment value of the observatory experience.
With everything going on right now, Moeed also sees the worth in getting off the planet for a little bit.
“Amongst all the stuff we’re seeing on planet Earth at the moment: climate change, politics,” he said. “It behooves us to take a view of the universe that makes us feel less alone and less isolated, especially in a world where children do feel isolated and locked into their digital worlds, to show them that there is something out there and there is a whole universe to explore.”
But it will also be a place to go to see a concert or poetry contest on the UFO landing pad, play bocce ball, sip coffee around a fire pit, play LED cornhole or wander through the princess and fairy nooks being constructed near the creek.
“We want to be more than just an observatory,” Ayers said. “We want to be a cultural place and have a lot of different events.”
