Canberra's high school students staring into space can soon be doing it for a good reason after the approval of the first Astronomical Teaching Observatory to be located at Mount Stromlo.
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The project is set to be complete by June next year after Melrose High teacher Geoff McNamara, arguably one of the most passionate science teachers in the country, secured funding and saved his own money to make the observatory possible.
The telescope will be open to students to carry out their own research projects. It will be managed and operated by Mr McNamara, with astronomers from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics providing assistance to students who use it.
ANU RSAA astronomer Brad E. Tucker said the unique project could provide the inspiration for students to become astronomers and make "the next big discovery".
"I do not know of any other facilities around the world that do this," he said.
"There are small teaching telescopes at universities, but none available to high school students, and especially none with access to world-class astronomers such those at Mount Stromlo Observatory."
The Astronomical Teaching Observatory received works approval from the National Capital Authority to be placed on the site where the Uppsala-Schmidt telescope sat prior to its relocation in 1981.
Mr McNamara said observations taken from the 30-centimetre telescope would contribute to the wider pool of knowledge about space.
"If a student is interested in astronomy the best they've been able to do in the past with regards to work experience is analysing second hand data," Mr McNamara said.
"What I wanted the students to do… was gather their own data, gather their own information.
"It's not professional astronomy but it emulates it very, very closely."
Mr McNamara wanted to put the opportunities in place for students at an earlier age, rather than at university when they had already chosen a career.
He said astronomy was important because it satisfied something fundamental in humans.
"We want to know what on earth we are doing here, what the universe is about, what our origins are... no other branch of science tackles those ultimate questions," he said.
Benefactors Denis and Vee Saunders donated $35,000 to the project because they believe in the work Mr McNamara does for his students.
"He is a teacher that is highly regarded, and he has motivated students to do science," Mr Saunders said.
"He's innovative, he's enthusiastic and he's inspiring."
