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Moonwalk launches stellar vocation
Kris Koenig has had his head in the clouds since he was a kid. The Kiwanian is director of the Kiwanis-Chico (California) Community Observatory, which feeds an astronomical hunger that first flared when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
 Photo credit: Tom Angel, Chico News and Review
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A youngster looks toward the heavens under the watchful eye of Kris Koenig.
Flashlight in hand, Kris Koenig attempts to get the gears turning on a complicated, homemade refractor, donated to the Kiwanis observatory sans instruction manual.
Kris Koenig poses with the high-tech reflector telescope he and Anita Berkow (on the ladder) operate at the Kiwanis-Chico Community Observatory. |
“I’ve been hooked on astronomy,” Kris says, “ever since I was a 7-year-old in Selma, Alabama, and sat on the floor at 3 a.m. and watched a guy walk on the moon for the first time. That was it; I just fell in love with astronomy.”
Since then, he’s been able to mix his business with pleasure in a number of ways:
- As proprietor of a retail outlet for stargazing paraphernalia, Kris fueled interest in the science among novice astronomers.
- He helped build the Roth Planetarium on the California State University-Chico campus.
- His Astronomy: Observations & Theories, a TV series aired on a Los Angeles-based Public Broadcasting Service station, garnered two Emmy awards.
Kris’ crowning achievement, though, was his work, along with the Greater Chico Kiwanis club, in designing, raising money for, and building the Kiwanis observatory and its outdoor planetarium.
Built in 2001 and paid for from donations, the observatory features two 14-inch telescopes that allow stargazers to see even faint nebulae and galaxies. The telescopes also have their own “go-to computer system,” that automatically go to any object entered.
Because of the popularity of the observatory—it logged between 6,000 and 8,000 visitors its first year alone—Kris and fellow club members launched a campaign to build the planetarium, which would allow large groups of people to gaze skyward at one time.
Dedicated this past November, the Shoemaker Open Sky Planetarium is an open-air amphitheater nestled in the hillside next to the observatory. It was built with two concentric, tiered rings, with angled walls that support viewers as they look up to the heavens. Once seated, the audience follows a green-glow laser into the night sky to gaze upon constellations, galaxies, and other heavenly bodies.
The planetarium is the first of its kind to combine an outdoor amphitheater with a hand-held media presentation using wireless technology, notes fellow Kiwanian Robert “Bob” Donoho. “Rather than looking at a ceiling with made-up images,” he explains, “our new planetarium provides direct wireless connections from the telescopes (in the observatory) to hand-held-viewers.”
The planetarium, he continues, helps Kris and his Kiwanis club spark an interest in astronomy among youth, encouraging them to study science and math.
“There are a couple things that make astronomy cool,” Kris says. “It gets kids excited about science. And it provides every man and woman a moment to reflect. When we show them a galaxy that’s 35 million light years away and tell them that there’s a hundred billion stars in that galaxy, they begin to understand that they’re just a small part of something much bigger. And maybe what’s been bugging them all day really isn’t such a big deal.”
In other words, it’s OK to have your head in the clouds.
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