Both he and the Stoller group believe the collaboration with Carlton Observatory will do big things for science education in Oregon. This creates something that not only serves Yamhill County but the whole region, Scott said. No pun intended, but all the stars aligned. Their passion is contagious. and their passion is going to get this thing done.
The project is ambitious and will involve about two years of fundraising through community support and grants. People can buy naming rights to stars to help fund the observatory.
It will take another year to construct the building, which was designed by Dangermond Keane Architecture in Portland pro bono. The firm specializes in education and science centers.
March 14, 2021
Carlton Observatory telescopes stolen
News-Register file photo##At a star party in Carlton in 2018, Kendall Stephens peers through the viewfinder of “BigBlue.”
Submitted photo##The missing trailer in which Big Blue and another telescope were stored.
Hundreds of children and adults had marveled at seeing Saturn and other planets through “Big Blue,” the main telescope for the planned Carlton Observatory.
Now the 15-inch Newtonian telescope is missing, along with another prized scope and the trailer in which they were stored.
Janet Juelke and her husband, Forrest Babcock, who are working toward building an observatory in Yamhill County since they moved to Carlton in 2013, discovered the trailer had been stolen March 11 or 12. The forest green, 20-foot-long Wells Cargo trailer had been stored at Juelke’s daughter’s house on Bald Peak Road, a rural site on the border of Yamhill and Washington counties.
Beloved telescopes stolen from Carlton couple
Updated Mar 13, 2021;
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Since he was a kid, Forrest Babcock has always been focused on the sky.
The optical engineer has had a longtime love for astronomy and has poured thousands of hours into building and rebuilding telescopes.
On Wednesday night, however, two of those telescopes were stolen from the rural property
near the Washington-Yamhill County line
where Babcock kept them.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said someone broke the lock on a forest green 1997 Wells Cargo enclosed trailer with a ramp door, nabbing a pair of prized telescopes worth over $16,000.
Deputies are now searching for the thieves. And Babcock and his wife, Janet Zuelke, said the telescopes hold more sentimental and community value than can ever be replaced.