Kristy Kelly, former Ukiah Vice-Mayor and City Councilwoman has had a fascination with the Ukiah Latitude Observatory for many years.
"Observatory Park and the Observatory were areas of special interest to me when I started on the City Council in 1996," says Kelly. She went so far as to talk to the neighbors surrounding the park and surveyed their feelings about it. "They felt happy it was there. There was potential here. There was history. There was also concern that the low-key neighborhood feel of the park be retained. A few years later, Martin came along with the passion and skills to lead serious rehabilitation and restoration efforts, leading to beautiful results we see today."
Enter Martin Bradley. Bradley had a lifelong passion for astronomy, and was one of the few locals who could understand the significance and purpose of Ukiah's International Latitude Observatory- a small, nondescript building located on the grounds of Observatory park. Over the course of about 20 years, Bradley brought the Observatory into the public eye and revitalized interest in the park and all things astronomy, relocating the observatory's original telescope back to its Ukiah home and organizing meetups where local astronomers brought their own telescopes for public viewing events, all while keeping the history of the Observatory fresh and relevant.
What is the Latitude Observatory? It is one of 6, located around the globe, all strategically placed on the parallel of 39° 08' north latitude. Simply put, the observatories were constructed in the late 1800's to study how the earth's latitude varies due to the Earth's "wobble" on its polar axis.
The observatories were staffed and functioned until more advanced technology rendered them obsolete, and they were decommissioned in 1982. But their data, collected for nearly 100 years is still being utilized for studies in areas like earthquake prediction, climatology and satellite tracking. The project also forged a spirit of international cooperation within the global scientific community.
Several years ago, both Kelly and Bradley had opportunities to visit a "sister" observatory in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which coincidentally sits on a site also named "Observatory Park." And last January, Kelly, with the support of the City of Ukiah visited the Latitude Observatory in Mizusawa, Japan.
As the City of Ukiah owns Observatory Park, Kelly approached City Manager Sage Sangiacomo to request assistance coordinating the visit. "Sage suggested it would be great if we said hello to them, and suggested that I talk to Neil Davis." Davis, the City's Community Services Director thought it would be a good idea to bring a gift along. "Neil pulled a beautiful photo of our observatory off his wall," Kelly smiles. She received a letter from Mayor Doug Crane, introducing Kelly and thanking the observatory staff in advance for hosting her.
"Neil had a family member living in Japan who was able to assist us with making a connection to someone at the Observatory," says Kelly. Unlike the Ukiah location, Japan's Latitude Observatory is not located in a public park, but sits within the grounds of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
From Tokyo, Kelly and her husband Kevin took the 170 mile-per-hour bullet train north several hours to the city of Mizusawa. "The town of Mizusawa was similar to Ukiah- mixed housing with small businesses, outdoor art and shops," Kelly notes.
Kelly had no idea who she would be meeting, and was somewhat taken aback when she and Kevin were introduced to Dr. Mareki Honma, Professor and Director of the National Observatory. "I wasn't sure how were going to communicate. I had Google Translator ready on my phone, but happily, Dr. Honma spoke perfect English."
The employees of the National Observatory are "serious business" astronomers, Kelly noted, and amongst National Observatory staff, there was great appreciation for the early work performed at the Latitude Observatory. Dr. Hisashi Kimura was the first astronomer for Japan's Latitude project. Along with the original Latitude Observatory building, which greatly resembles its counterpart in Ukiah, there is a museum on the grounds dedicated to Dr. Kimura and the observatory, which the Kellys visited.
"Dr. Honma was so welcoming. He gave us the feeling he had all the time in the world. He talked about how lovely it is to reach back and be in the physical setting of an observatory that was so historically important." Dr. Honma is an esteemed astronomer who has focused his career on revealing the 3-D structure of the Milky Way Galaxy, as well as obtaining radio images of nearby super-massive black holes with the highest resolution ever achieved.
Following their visit with Dr. Honma, the Kellys had the museum to themselves. They took dozens of photos and are still in the process of translating the exhibits into English.
"Dr. Kimura was the first astronomer for the latitude project and was highly recognized at the national level in Japan," Kelly continues.
"When you enter the museum, the first thing you see is Dr. Kimura's original desk, complete with his tennis racket." Their telescope, a twin to the one housed in Ukiah has been meticulously restored and is proudly displayed in plexiglass. The multiple-room museum displayed personal items belonging to Dr. Kimura, including his hat and cane, globe, slide rule and abacus, as well as a case filled with cards, correspondence and displays clearly geared toward children. Other exhibits focused on later projects in Dr. Kimura's career, such as earthquake detection, and one case was filled with awards.
From the museum, the Kellys walked outdoors through a light dusting of snow to view the observatory, nestled between large offices and massive radio telescopes dedicated to today's astronomical research. "With the exception of some touches that made the building take on a slightly Japanese architectural feeling, the observatory building was nearly identical to ours," says Kelly. "I have to admit- I teared up a little bit, seeing this building," she smiles.
Martin Bradley stepped back from his efforts at the observatory around 2021, and Alyssa Boge, Curator of Education and Exhibits at the Grace Hudson Museum has assumed responsibility for caring for the observatory and curating all of the materials associated with it. "I was asked to work on exhibits for the observatory in 2022," says Boge. "I looked through archival resources and spoke with Martin. "We put together exhibits in the old office building and put the telescope and the sideral clock in there as well, setting it up to tell a bit of the story of the observatory, the wobble and the observers that we had here," she continues.
The magic of our earth, still rotating in space, presumably having little to no regard for the humans inhabiting it will always be memorialized in some fashion at the Latitude Observatory. Boge hopes that when the right time comes, interest in the observatory will wax again.
"Our ultimate goal is to have volunteers open up the space once a month. They don't have to be content experts, because the exhibits are all here. We don't have the capacity to manage a volunteer program or coordinate school groups, but something could certainly happen in the future," says Boge.
At the end of her meeting with Dr. Honma, Kelly gave him some papers written by Dr. Kimura's Ukiah counterpart- Frank Schlessinger. "Dr. Honma asked me to sign an old photo of our observatory, and I asked him to sign a book I had brought. Toward the end of our visit, Dr. Honma brought up how these observatories persisted through two World Wars. He signed my book, including a symbol for peace. Dr. Honma concluded by saying, 'Let's let this be the message of our meeting here,'" Kelly agreed.
For information on the Ukiah Latitude Observatory, contact Alyssa Boge at aboge@cityofukiah.com. For information on the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, visit https://www.miz.nao.ac.jp/en.1.html