Loading ...The Belk Astronomical observatory is located at Lynchburg College’s Claytor Nature Center in Bedford County. The observatory was named after former state senator Irwin Belk of Charlotte, NC, for his contributions to the project.
Dr. Neal Sumerlin, director of the Belk Observatory, donated the primary telescope, a 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien whose optical design was used in the Hubble Space Telescope. The gift was given in honor of his great-grandmother, Margaret G.L. Gilbert, who first sparked his interest in the field by letting him stay up to watch the Perseid meteor shower when he was just 4 years old. Nothing else in Southwest Virginia rivals the Gilbert Telescope. In addition, the observatory has six 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes and an observation deck for using astronomical binoculars and solar telescopes. The $450,000 project represents the College’s plan to transform the Claytor Nature Study Center into a comprehensive environmental education facility.
The observatory setting is an astonomer’s dream – situated in the jidst of acres of grassland ringed with mountains – and the observatory is wonderfully equipped for both outreach and education. Please visit their website for more information, including the schedule for public viewings (generally held the third Friday of the month): www.lynchburg.edu/observatory.xml.
