Shooting for the moon from Lynn

LYNN – It?s hidden from sight and draws its most devoted fans on the darkest of nights. But the telescope mounted on top of High Rock Tower is one of the city?s enduring treasures, says the man who organizes High Rock?s stargazing sessions.Reachable by climbing a winding set of iron steps and then an outdoor stairway perched high above the city, the 12-inch Meade LX200 EMC telescope has attracted astronomers, families looking for fun, schoolchildren and 95-year-old local poet Borys Zinger, who ventured to the tower?s top for a glimpse at the heavens.?It took him 45 minutes to climb the stairs,” said city Community Development Director James Marsh.By working with other city officials to bring the telescope to High Rock Tower in 2001, Marsh helped revive the tower?s use as an observatory. The city?s High Rock history states the stone tower originally included an observatory when it was built in 1904.By the 1990s, the tower and the park on the Highland?s summit surrounding the tower had fallen into disrepair. With the observatory closed and the telescope removed, residents limited High Rock visits, and Community Development?s first task was to shore up and repair the stone tower.Placing a new observatory on top of the tower gave the city a chance to underscore how unique High Rock is, Marsh said.?What other older city gives residents the ability to utilize a professional telescope?” he said.Marsh currently organizes one-Tuesday-a-month viewing evenings in the observatory, with the next one scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. Interest the outings prompted Marsh to urge residents to visit the High Rock page on the city website and use the email signup.Slightly smaller than a trash barrel, the telescope stands in the center of a round, 14-foot-wide room beneath the observatory?s metal canopy, which rotates and has a retractable door so that the telescope can be aimed. Astronomy software provides coordinates that can be programmed into the telescope to seek out planets, stars and galaxies.Cold winter nights provide the best viewing opportunities and so does a rare daytime moon.?The only tough thing is getting nature to cooperate,” Marsh said.Research astronomers have viewed comets through the telescope, but Marsh said his most enthusiastic viewers are also his youngest.?When you let the kids look through the telescope, their eyes just light up,” he said.Marsh said more than $4 million in High Rock improvements – including park landscaping, a new stairway climbing from Essex Street to the tower, and a play equipment area – attract people to the park who ask for a chance to gaze skyward.?We have people who come down from New Hampshire and people right in the Highlands who are tickled pink to come up here,” he said.Marsh admits he lingers on telescope viewing nights and allows stragglers to take a peek at the cosmos.?People who come late get the best show,” he said.