* Astronomy

Lynchburg College students will be seeing stars this fall.
A $450,000 observatory, located on the Claytor Nature Preserve, should be ready for use by then. Initial work began last Friday and college officials expect the work to be completed in August.
Dr. Neal Sumerlin, who spearheaded the project, said that the facility will feature a 20-inch main telescope with at least six 8-inch secondary telescopes. The measurements refer to the diameter of the mirrors in these reflecting telescopes. There will be space to mount as many as 12 of the 8-inch instruments. Sumerlin said that the smaller telescopes will be used for student astronomy labs and the number was chosen to make sure that there wouldn't be more than two students at any one telescope.

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