This year, Eden Prairie may be one of the rare Minnesota cities offering a close-up view of the stars.

The city is looking to construct a building this spring or early summer that would house a 16-inch telescope donated from the Minnesota Astronomical Society.

"It's something that I thought would be beneficial to the citizens of Eden Prairie, that they wouldn't be able to go find just anywhere else," said Eden Prairie Outdoor Center Director Stan Tekiela.

The Outdoor Center's astronomer Jon Hickman noted that having such a large telescope in a public venue "is really fairly unique."

"A 16-inch telescope really opens up the heavens," he said.

The city received the donation in late 2006. The Minnesota Astronomical Society had originally purchased the 16-inch "Cassegrain" telescope from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, back in 1980. It remained housed in the Onan Observatory in Norward Young America until the society recently acquired two new telescopes. Hickman suggested Eden Prairie would make a good home for the older telescope (called a Larson Telescope) and in November of 2006, the board of the Minnesota Astronomical Society (with Hickman abstaining) voted to make the donation.

Tekiela estimated that the scope would be valued at $20,000-30,000 and that it is "one of the largest in the entire state."

Because of its size, the telescope needs to be housed in a permanent structure.

The city's outdoor programs include "Star Watch," which typically runs once a month and is hosted by Hickman at Staring Lake Outdoor Center, 13765 Staring Lake Parkway. With the addition of the donated telescope, the city plans to construct a small observatory sometime late spring or early summer. The likely location would be just down the shoreline from the Outdoor Center, in a space that currently includes an abandoned shed.

According to Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, $60,000 in funding for the construction of the building has been budgeted through this year's capital improvement program.

He said they are working with an architect right now to come up with a couple of concepts on how to anchor the telescope.

The equipment is about 1,000 pounds and needs a good base to hold it, he noted. With Minnesota's climate, the structure will need the type of roof that can slide backwards "and also still be weatherproof."

This building will be similar to a one-car garage in size.

"That also seems like the right location to place it so that you can get the best view of the southern sky," said Lotthammer.

The city is still collecting soil samples, the results of which will determine the foundation design, and when would be the best season to construct it. The site also proves advantageous because of the few trees that might impede the view of the sky.

Lotthammer said they are month or two away from an architectural concept and firm cost estimate, but he said, once a concept design is finished, prior to going out for bid, staff will take it to the City Council for approval.

Tekiela said the Outdoor Center has grant money to purchase an additional telescope that would be used in conjunction with the larger one. The future observatory is a place that could be open for special celestial events and on a regular basis as part of the Center's Star Watch program.

Additionally, they could also make it available to people who have a background in astronomy who want to use it, said Tekiela.

He said he'd love to see families show up on Friday nights, bring their own telescopes, and Outdoor Center staff could teach them to use it.

"This is right there in their own backyard that people could really take advantage of and be able to learn some really fascinating things about things that are just above our heads."

Hickman said his idea is for the program to expand to the point where every clear weekend night, they'd have enough volunteers to keep the telescope open for public access.

"The night sky, we take it for granted, because it's just there."

Hickman has been fascinated with astronomy since he was 11 years old, the time of the moon landing.

"If I looked at nothing ever again accept Saturn every night," he said, "it would be just an incredibly rewarding hobby."

He explained that a 16-inch telescope is "an instrument beyond what most members of the public would realistically have access to in their lifetime, short of going to some of the very large public observatories in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Hawaii."

It's the size of the telescope that really determines its usefulness for seeing things, he explained. What's important is how much light you collect.

When you look through a telescope, you're looking at light that's left, in some cases hundreds of millions or billions of years ago from the originating star, he said.