A Conversation With A Smokies Stargazer
After retiring to Swain County following successive careers in engineering and nursing, Knox Worde’s lifelong interest in science turned skyward. Worde currently serves as president of the Astronomy Club of Asheville, an organization that includes more than 150 members and—during nonpandemic times—holds a variety of stargazing and other educational events throughout the region.
How did you get involved with astronomy?
I’ve always lived around big cities with lots of light pollution. There’s not much you can see in the night sky. But the first night here at this house was a clear, dark night, and it just happened to be an evening where there was a meteor shower. So I found the club in Asheville and joined them. I’ve been with them for just over 10 years now.
What has held your fascination all that time?
I don’t really know. I’ve just always been interested in science as an engineer, but astronomy is a very humbling experience. Looking through an eyepiece, looking at individual planets, stars, galaxies—it makes you realize how small we are, and how huge and interesting the universe is, and what may be out there. Even when I was a little kid, I followed the space program and was eyeing it really closely. It always fascinated me. And now living in a darker sky area and being retired allows me to pursue that interest a little bit more.
What are some good places to enjoy the stars in the Smokies?
In the park itself there are a couple places, such as Newfound Gap or the parking area at Clingmans Dome or even the field beside the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, but it’s hard to get away from all the trees in the park itself. Purchase Knob is a nice spot with a pretty good, clear view of the sky. There are several good viewing spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway—Tanbark and Pisgah overlooks, for instance. Waterrock Knob is a very good viewing location, dark sky with few obstructions.
The club occasionally does public programs at Purchase Knob in partnership with Friends of the Smokies, among other outreach activities. Why are these important?
One of our primary functions as a club is just to get the public interested in astronomy and particularly young people interested in astronomy and science in general. Some young person looking for that first time through the telescope, they might get inspired to pursue a career in the sciences. Sometimes it just takes a little spark like that.
What night sky sights are most exciting to you?
What we can see in the sky changes over the year, so it just depends on the season. Other galaxies, star clusters, I find it all very fascinating. There’s not any one thing that really wows me more than anything else—it’s all fascinating to me. I find it all very interesting and all very beautiful to watch and photograph. It’s a very humbling experience to think about how huge, how unimaginably vast and varied the universe is.
How should a new stargazer get started?
When I first got interested, the only equipment I had was my own two eyes, and I did that for a while studying star maps and learning the sky before I bought a telescope. You really don’t have to have your own gear. The Astronomy Club of Asheville has 160 members and most of them don’t have their own scope. They come to our stargazes. The best thing to do is to do reading, talk to other folks, go to clubs and find out a little bit before making any purchase at all. The best telescope anyone can buy is the kind that’s going to get used often. If it’s complicated, if it’s big and heavy, it’s not going to get used much.