Future of historic southeast Kansas telescope in question

GIRARD, Kan. — The future of a southeast Kansas observatory is up in the air. The observatory houses a large, planetary telescope that has fallen victim to decades of wear and has become a relic of the past.

The Greenbush Education Service Center is where you'll find the " PSU Greenbush Astrophysical Observatory ."

For decades, the telescope has allowed people to peer into our solar system and gaze at the planets.

"Our telescope was built in about 1969 and so were all of its gears and parts," said Greenbush Special Projects Director, Kelly Peak.

In 1996, the telescope was acquired by Pittsburg State University from New Mexico State University Observatory and moved to Greenbush.

"Our telescope was built in about 1969 and so were all of its gears and parts," said Peak.

"When it first came here, obviously it was functioning, but with anything, it gets older, things start to get dirty on it. It's not something that you can just do a little Windex and clean a mirror on the inside of that," said Greenbush Center for Community Supports Project Manager, Traci Hembree.

Nearly seventy years after it was built by Clyde Tombaugh — the astronomer who discovered Pluto — the telescope has reached the end of its life and is no longer operational.

"We're really looking to see, what can we do for the future of it because we're proud of it," said Hembree.

The question now is what to do with the telescope, and the observatory in which it's housed.

"We would love for it to be a museum piece where people can come out and understand the history of Clyde Tombaugh and this particular telescope," said Hembree.

"We don't want to see any of that history lost, but we also know there a lot more modern equipment and more automated equipment," said Peak.

School administrators say they're currently weighing all of the options.

"We're kind of in our fact-finding mission right now just to see what's the best place moving forward for us," said Hembree.

In the meantime, there's still a place at Greenbush for those who love to look at the night sky.

"Even though our big scope is not functioning, there's still so much more people can do, and it's free," said Hembree.

You can learn more about the astronomy events held at Greenbush, HERE .