Francine Jackson featured on Close Up Radio after 50 years at Ladd Observatory

Ladd Observatory staff astronomer Francine Jackson was recently featured on Close Up Radio, spotlighting her five decades of public outreach in Providence and her advocacy for dark skies. The interview also follows an asteroid naming honor and renewed attention to the historic observatory’s hand-operated telescope and dome.

Why it matters: - Francine Jackson has spent about 50 years introducing the public to astronomy at Ladd Observatory in Providence. - Her work connects hands-on skywatching, education and preservation of dark skies at a historic observatory that still operates with Victorian-era equipment. - The Close Up Radio feature brings attention to both Jackson’s career and Ladd Observatory’s role as a free public astronomy resource.

What happened: - Close Up Radio featured Francine Jackson, Ladd Observatory staff astronomer, in an interview with Doug Llewelyn on Monday, September 28, 2026, at 10 a.m. Eastern. - The segment focused on Jackson’s long career at Ladd Observatory, her interest in astronomy, and her advocacy for dark skies. - Jackson said she was named after an asteroid last February by the International IAU WG Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN).

The details: - Jackson said her interest in astronomy began at age 8, when she started pulling astronomy books off library shelves. - While studying physics at the Community College of Rhode Island, Jackson wrote a term paper on Newspeak from George Orwell’s 1984 for Professor Walter Brownsword. - Brownsword gave Jackson six schools with astronomy degree programs, and Jackson was accepted at the University of Illinois. - Jackson first walked into Ladd Observatory in Providence in 1972 and said the building felt familiar because it resembled the observatory where she studied in Illinois. - Ladd Observatory opened in 1891 and remains largely unchanged. - The observatory’s dome still opens by hand on a pulley system. - The main telescope does not run on electricity. - Visitors still climb the same steps astronomy students used more than 100 years ago. - Jackson said the manual telescope teaches patience and a working knowledge of the sky. - She contrasted that with computerized telescopes that require only a button press. - Jackson has taken part in Ladd Observatory’s weekly open houses for 50 years, greeting visitors with coffee, cookies and an invitation to look through the eyepiece. - She returned to her post after the city of Providence closed the observatory for an elevator installation and the building later reopened. - Jackson points visitors to Ladd Observatory’s nine-foot grandfather clock, built by a wealthy amateur clockmaker from Pawtucket. - The clock case has glass panels so visitors can watch the mechanism run. - The clock keeps both solar time and sidereal time on two separate pendulums, four minutes apart. - Jackson said the observatory experience makes people feel as if they are going back in time. - Jackson said light pollution has erased much of the Milky Way from view at Ladd Observatory. - She opposes the proposed Reflect Orbital project, which would launch a satellite mirror designed to cast reflected sunlight across a three-mile patch of Earth at night. - Jackson supports the International Dark Sky Organization’s effort to slow such projects. - She warned that artificial light at that scale could disrupt nighttime plant, animal and human life across the region. - Jackson’s favorite observing memory is Saturn, which she said transforms from a dot into a ringed planet through the telescope. - Jackson also writes astronomy book reviews for a local planetarium and for her amateur astronomy society. - Ladd Observatory has operated in Providence since 1891 and offers free weekly open houses to the public. - The observatory’s original telescope and hand-operated dome remain in daily use. - More information is available through the podcast episode, the iHeartRadio episode, and the Spotify episode. - Additional background is available from NASA Solar System Ambassadors, CCRI, The Valley Breeze, and Close Up Radio on Facebook.

Between the lines: - The feature is as much about preservation as it is about one astronomer’s career. - Ladd Observatory’s manual instruments and unchanged architecture are part of the attraction, but they also serve as a contrast to modern automated astronomy. - Jackson’s dark-sky advocacy reflects a broader concern that artificial light and space-based illumination projects could further limit what people can see from the ground.

What's next: - Ladd Observatory is expected to continue its weekly public open houses. - Jackson is likely to keep combining outreach, observing and advocacy as she remains active at the observatory. - Dark-sky debates around proposals like Reflect Orbital are likely to continue as advocates press for limits on artificial nighttime illumination.

The bottom line: - Jackson’s recognition underscores how one longtime volunteer can help keep public astronomy alive while also defending the night sky itself.