Palomar Mountain News

We are running this article on the front page of the paper this week, along with a picture of those wild pigs. Pick up a copy next to the post office! 

PALOMAR MOUNTAIN SAYS GOODBYE TO FIRST OBSERVATORY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER

By DAVID ROSS Sometimes a public affairs officer can make a difference!

Eight years ago, when Scott Kardel took up his duties as director for public affairs for Palomar Observatory, he changed one thing the very first day.

The museum, which dated back nearly to the observatory’s founding in 1948, and was about a creaky as Methuselah’s knee joints, contained a caption of a photo of the moon that stated that no one knew what caused the craters.

“That was about forty years out of date, so I changed it,” recalls Kardel, who has left his position as public affairs officer for the Cal Tech run observatory, to take over as Director of Public Affairs for the International Dark-Sky Assn. It is unknown whether his position will be filled by another.

Lunar craters, by the way, were caused by meteor and asteroid impacts, something that was proven from rocks collected by the Apollo moon landings of the 1960s and 70s.

The museum was so out of date that Cal Tech felt the need to close it to the public and update it. That was part of Kardel’s job.

“The director that hired me, at the time when there was no position, realized that things needed to be upgraded,” Kardel recalls.

The rest of his job was to encourage more people to visit the observatory, to organize educational tours, and to, in general, get the word out about what was and is still one of the great astronomical instruments in the world.

Kardel was the first public affairs officer hired for the observatory, and he aggressively carried out his job. If some obscure astronomer made an astronomical discovery, as when, in 2004, planetary scientists discovered a new planetoid on the edges of the Solar System. 4.4 billion miles from Earth, Kardel made sure that the media was made aware of it.

During that time he immersed himself in the observatory’s history and current operations. He worked to help spread the message of the observatory in a variety of ways. The Palomar Skies blog, which Kardel began in late 2007, was a forum for him to share news, photos and interesting stories from the observatory.

Kardel was always quick to defend the observatory’s sky “turf” when light pollution, such as from nearby casinos, threatened its “seeing.” Starting in August he will be carrying out the same mission on a much larger canvas.

According to Kardel, “Preserving dark skies is important, not just for professional observatories, but for wildlife and much more. A star-filled night sky has been a tremendous source of inspiration for most of human history and now it is vanishing for almost everybody.

In my new role I will work hard to raise awareness for this cause and hopefully bring the Milky Way back for many.

“This allows me to work on dark sky issues that impact everybody and allows me to return to my hometown of Tucson.”

Tucson is where he and his wife of 27 years, Alydia, met. They are celebrating their 27th anniversary this week. Their daughter, Sara, who graduated from Valley Center High School two years ago, attended local schools, and was the entire eighth grade class of the now-defunct Palomar Mountain School.

Kardel came to Palomar Observatory from a small observatory in Kansas called Lake Afton Observatory, where he taught for ten years.

His job at Palomar, however, was a plum assignment for him. “As someone who grew up as an astronomy nut, Palomar Observatory is a dream come true,” he remarked at the time.

He and his family have enjoyed their eight years on “the Mountain,”

he told The Roadrunner.

“Palomar certainly has times when it challenges everybody but there are also days that are fantastic, and not just the weather. it’s a special place. I have more friends and neighbors here than any other place that I’ve lived.”

Just as he maintained a blog for the observatory, Kardel figures he will continue to do that in his new job.

Last week he wrote on the observatory’s Facebook page, “I will likely be blogging there about dark skies. If you are interested, please look me up sometime in August. As for Palomar Skies, it shall remain here, but I will be stepping aside from it. At some point someone will hopefully pick up the keyboard and resume posting here. After all there are many great stories still to share and more discoveries about the universe yet to come.”

Regards, 

David Ross

Editor

Valley Roadrunner

760-749-1112

 “I can handle big news and little news. And if there’s no news, I’ll go out and bite a dog.”