Monrovia Astronomer Takes Time to Look Skyward

By Susan Motander

Itis December and many people look skyward, some for a star heralding a newarrival others to the north for a miniature sleigh and eight tinyreindeer. Some people make a hobby of looking to the heavens years round —these are the amateur astronomers among us.

Onesuch astronomer hobbyist is Glenn Cox in Monrovia. Many Monrovians willremember him as the calm and steady hand guiding the redevelopment agency forthe city as its assistant executive director for almost 30 years. He wasthe constant with city managers coming and going as the executive director but Coxgave the continuity needed during those years of rebuilding what had been analmost dying community.

Beinga humble person, Cox points to others, giving them the credit, including formerCity Managers Jim Starbird and Don Hopper and councilmembers such as Bob Bartlett,Eric Faith and Pat Ostrye. But after his retirement in 2002 (he hadstarted with the city in 1973) things continued to look up for Cox — this timeall the way to the heavens.

Heredeveloped an interest in astronomy. “I first got interested as a kidwhen my father had a 6-inch telescope in about 1955. At that time the6-inch scope was considered huge.” To put this in perspective, the telescope heand astronomy buddy Chris Spellman have just completed has a 29-inchmirror. It took the two of them 1.5 to almost 2 years to complete and theyhave spent the last year perfecting it. And now they are selling it.

Butdespair not. Cox still has his backup telescope, a smaller scope with a17.5-inch mirror. Asked what the most astonishing thing he had ever viewedthrough his telescopes, Cox replied “M13” explaining that the “M” stood forMessier, Charles Messieer, a French astronomer who published an astronomicalcatalogue of 110 nebulae and faint star clusters.

Coxdescribed M13 as being a globular cluster in Hercules or the Hercules GlobularCluster. He said it consisted of several hundred stars in the constellationof Hercules. He also said that astonishing was the right word to describeit. “It looks like a bunch of diamond pins in a pincushion,” he explained.

Askedabout the most beautiful thing he had ever viewed he answered with anotherM-number; this time Messier 42 in the center of the Orion constellation. Heexplained that it has a cluster of six stars at the center of the nebula thatis more than 24 light years across with a mass of more than 2,000 times that ofthe sun. He explained that there is color to this and that it is indeedbeautiful. 

Sotake a moment this year to relax and just look up, perhaps not in the next fewovercast days but soon and regularly.

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