Nearly blind astronomer opens observatory for tourists

The first time Tim Doucette saw the Milky Way, he was a teenager. Doucette, who has been visually impaired all his life, had just had cataracts removed. He was awed by the sight. Years later, a gift of a telescope revived his interest in astronomy. He has since taken that interest and run—far.

On 9 September Doucette is scheduled to hold a grand opening for the Deep Sky Eye Observatory, which actually opened for business last fall. The observatory is down the road from Doucette’s home in Quinan, Nova Scotia. He hosts lectures and lessons at the observatory for astrotourists who want to learn about astronomy and astrophotography.

The Deep Sky Eye Observatory is in an area that was designated in November 2014 as North America’s first Starlight Tourist Destination by the Starlight Foundation of Spain’s Canary Islands. The foundation’s partners include UNESCO, the International Astronomical Union, and the World Tourism Organization.

Doucette told Physics Today‘s Toni Feder about his inferior—and for some things, it turns out, superior—eyesight, and how he is transforming his love for astronomy from a hobby into a business.

PT: How did you get interested in astronomy?

DOUCETTE: As a child I had a passion for space, but I came quickly to realize that I was different. I am visually impaired. I was born blind, with cataracts for the first year of my life. It discouraged me from astronomy.

Then, when I was a teenager, I had surgery. The cataracts had come back. When I came back from the hospital, I saw the Milky Way for the first time. I thought I was having a detached retina, because the doctors had told me that spots and bright lights could be a sign of retinal detachment. I stood there with my head up for about 15 minutes in the freezing cold. With my first telescope, when I was about 10 or 12 years old, I could see only the Moon and one or two bright stars. Now I could see the Milky Way, and that was pretty neat.

But I still had only 10% of my eyesight. It wasn’t until about 15 years later, when I was in my early 30s, that my wife bought me a telescope. I still had doubts about pursuing astronomy as a hobby. Am I going to fail at it because I can’t see?

PT: What changed?

DOUCETTE: I joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and went observing with them. When we were looking at some of the objects, my friend said, “What do you see?” And I said, “Well, it looks like a donut with two stars in there.” [The object was M57, the Ring Nebula.]

And he said, “You shouldn’t be able to see that with that size telescope!” That’s where it started—I wanted to know why I could see things that my friend with 20/20 eyesight couldn’t see. And my passion grew and grew.

PT: So why can you see things that others can’t see?

DOUCETTE: When they did the surgery, the lenses of both my eyes were removed. The lens blocks ultraviolet light to protect the retina. So, not having the lens, I can perceive a little more on the ultraviolet side than most people would. The doctors also widened my pupils as scar tissue was blocking light from getting to my retina.

PT: How well do you see?

DOUCETTE: In camera terms, my eye is like a 1-megapixel camera. Your eye would be compared to an 8- or 10-megapixel camera. When you take a picture with a 10-megapixel camera, you get more detail when you zoom in, whereas with a 1-megapixel camera you are very limited. But if something is magnified, I can see pretty much like anyone else, to a point. With astronomy, you can only get so close to an object before the distortions of the atmosphere make everything blurry anyway.

In the daytime, I have to wear sunglasses all the time, because my pupils are fixed to about 12 millimeters; they don’t dilate. Colors are extremely vivid to me.

PT: You have a day job as a software developer; how did you come to opening an observatory?

DOUCETTE: We moved back to Nova Scotia from New Brunswick nearly two years ago. One of the main reasons for moving back to my hometown is family. But it was also because in 2014 our area—the whole southwest of Nova Scotia—was designated the first starlight reserve and destination in North America. We have dark skies, and the idea is to encourage the area to keep it that way.

I had a small hand in the designation—I met with the auditors from the Canary Islands, and since I was from here and could speak the language of astronomy, I was asked to help out. The designation is to keep the sky free from light pollution, but it also encompasses other things like education and science. All the municipalities here are keen to see how the designation will increase economic development in the area. The dark skies are a natural resource to offer tourists.

PT: Describe the observatory and what you offer.

DOUCETTE: The observatory is a small building, about 20 feet by 12 feet. The main level has a projector and an area where a dozen or so people can sit down, and I can talk to them about astronomy and the night sky. We have an observing platform—just a big concrete pad—where we have smaller telescopes and binoculars and chairs outside. And indoors we have a 14-inch Celestron EdgeHD telescope.

I offer two experiences. One is lectures and viewing the night sky. We encourage people to bring their cell phones and cameras—they can hook up their camera to the telescope and snap a quick picture of some of the brighter objects. The other is an all-night astrophotography workshop. I teach people how to take pictures of the night sky.

I am automating the observatory as well so that it will be remotely accessible. I am hoping it will be the third telescope in the world to have a social media interface. [The first two are the Burke-Gaffney Observatory at nearby Saint Mary’s University and the private telescope of BGO director David Lane; see Physics Today, August 2016, page 26.]

PT: Is the observatory a business?

DOUCETTE: Yes. It’s personally funded, with probably $20 000 Canadian [$15 100 US]. Visitors pay. We hope to have about 10 groups per month on clear, moonless nights. It’s basically weather dependent. And we are open year-round.

PT: Can you elaborate on astrophotography?

DOUCETTE: Astrophotography is a little bit of a different beast than daytime photography. It takes a little bit more time. For me, there are some challenges. When I go to process images, I use a very large, 30-inch monitor, and I still have to zoom in with a magnifying glass and use software to be able to edit the photos properly.

When my wife bought me the telescope, I took an image of Mars, and I couldn’t believe what I could see. I had one of my images published in a magazine. I didn’t want to tell them I was visually impaired. I didn’t want the decision to publish my image to be skewed. Then, I was asked to talk about astrophotography during the Stars and Stuff Festival held in Moncton, New Brunswick, in 2009. That’s when my story came out to the public, and it inspired a whole bunch of people to take on this hobby.

PT: It is inspiring! Do you know if you have inspired other visually impaired people?

DOUCETTE: I used to have people at my backyard observatory when I lived in Moncton. People came about once a month, no cost. One guy had only 2% of his vision. I adapted an eyepiece so that it would shine into his retina, and I showed him the craters of the moon. He was so excited.

Another time, after I did a presentation, a little boy’s mother came up and said, “I couldn’t believe he sat there and listened to your whole talk.” The boy had congenital cataracts—which is what I was born with—and his mother said that “for him to see that somebody with his vision problem was doing something positive and productive was just amazing.”

PT: Are you planning on turning the observatory into your livelihood?

DOUCETTE: That would be my dream. But I will definitely hold on to other employment for now. I love writing software, don’t get me wrong. But I have a passion for astronomy. I really enjoy teaching people, contributing to research when I can, and sharing the night sky with folks. I’ll see where it goes. We have other plans as well, involving tourism and nature—maybe combine fishing, camping, hunting, and astronomy.