Local astronomer will bring telescopes to Houck Field during eclipse

Cape Girardeau amateur astronomer Dennis Vollink plans to take his mechanized telescopes to Houck Field on Aug. 21, where more than 3,000 spectators are expected to view the total eclipse.

Vollink's telescopes typically are used for astrophotography, or the process of photographing objects in space.

With assistance from Southeast Missouri State University professor James Dufek, Vollink will use his telescopic camera equipment to provide video of the eclipse on the stadium's scoreboard, as well online via livestream.

The remaining telescopes and a variety of filters will be in the stadium to provide the public with a magnified view of the eclipse.

Houck Field will be open to the public the day of the total eclipse, which is set to begin at 11:52 a.m. and end at 2:49 p.m. The totality of the eclipse will occur at 1:20 p.m. for less than two minutes.

Houck Field will be open from 11:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day.

Vollink first pursued his hobby by taking a telescope to his driveway and capturing photos on film.

As the technology advanced, so did Vollink's method. By connecting a Nikon camera body to the eyehole of a telescope he now captures images from light-years away -- all from inside his in-house observatory.

His Astrophysics telescope sits with a direct connection to his computer system that can track the paths of celestial bodies and mechanically re-adjust the telescope's position with pinpoint accuracy.

After locking onto a region in space, the telescopes use a motorized tracking system to adjust for planetary rotation and keep a fixed view on a single celestial subject as it passes through the sky.

Vollink said his instruments spend hours collecting enough light to produce a visible image, with some photographs of distant celestial bodies taking as long as four nights.

bmatthews@semissourian.com

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