Prairie Grove Library To Receive Telescope

To check out the moon and stars, patrons may soon check out a telescope from the Prairie Grove Public Library.

Eight public libraries in Northwest Arkansas will each receive a telescope from a local nonprofit organization called STEM and Space. The telescopes will be available for checkout by any authorized patrons.

Supporting STEM and Space paid for the Orion StarBlast telescopes, each of which costs about $360, said Katherine Auld of Bella Vista, the group's founder. The organization's goal is to get more people interested in science, technology, engineering and math. Making telescopes more accessible to the public is one way to support that mission, Auld said.

"The night sky is something that people as a general rule just connect with," she said. "You go outside and look at the stars, and you're like, 'What's that star, what's that star.' People respond to the night sky very well."

Other libraries receiving a telescope are those in Bella Vista, Bentonville, Fayetteville, Gravette, Rogers, Springdale and West Fork.

The telescopes have been modified slightly to make them more user-friendly for amateur astronomers, Auld said.

Northwest Arkansas is just the latest place where the idea of providing telescopes to libraries has taken root. More than 100 libraries across New Hampshire have telescopes available to patrons, according to the New Hampshire Astronomical Society's website. Dozens of telescopes are available across more than 20 St. Louis-area libraries, according to the St. Louis Astronomical Society website.

Megan Wood, librarian for Prairie Grove Children's Library, said she is excited that local patrons will be able to check out a telescope from the public library. She is waiting to get details on the telescope and will know more about it later. Prairie Grove probably will set a minimum age requirement for people to check out the equipment.

"This will be a nice telescope and will give people access to technology they wouldn't normally have," Wood said.

The library plans to sponsor an Astronomy Night in late June to help promote the telescope.

Supporting STEM and Space raised much of the money for the telescopes, including $1,040 through Facebook in December. The organization also received a $1,500 grant from the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium, Auld said.

Auld, an adjunct faculty member at Northwest Arkansas Community College who has a doctorate in space and planetary sciences, started Supporting STEM and Space in 2014. The organization earned nonprofit status a year ago. It consists of a board of directors of 12 people with Auld as chairwoman.

The group's biggest dream is a science center for Northwest Arkansas that would feature a planetarium, an IMAX theater and a wide range of hands-on science exhibits.