Patrick Wiggins' love for the stars is out of this world

STANSBURY PARK — Watching Patrick Wiggins work a star party is like watching a master showman.

Temperatures in the 40s, and a few dozen people are with him at the Stansbury Park Observatory Complex in late May, waiting for Wiggins' signal. It's 10:12 p.m., and the sky's a deep turquoise. Few in the crowd are sure about what they're waiting for; they just know that in 29 seconds something amazing is going to happen.

"Watch the sky for a moving satellite. Ten, nine, eight ...," Wiggins says.

There it is, a little moving pinprick among stars.

"Now!" Wiggins says. The satellite gives off a flash of light, then goes back to dot-size. The crowd joins in a chorus of oohs and aahs.

"Iridium flare," Wiggins explains. "It's the sun reflecting off the satellite's panels."

Other Salt Lake Astronomical Society members have telescopes at this star party, but after making the rounds, many of the children there return to Wiggins because they think he's funny. He says things like, "Be careful on the ladder. The laws of gravity are strictly enforced here."

He downplays his role in SLAS, though it's obvious he's not a bit player. Other members refer questions to him, which he answers confidently. Awed, one man tells him, "You must eat, sleep and breathe astronomy."

"This is my day," Wiggins replies. "I stay up watching the night sky until 6 a.m., go to bed, get up at 2 p.m. and start it all over again."

At 61, the vegan and avid walker has boyish eyes and a spare, lean figure. It's not unusual to see him running around the room, full of energy when giving solar system demonstrations. On a recent afternoon, Wiggins sits at a local eatery, sipping from a huge tumbler. Embroidered on the collar of his turtleneck are the letters SPOC. SPOC — a tribute to Star Trek — stands for Stansbury Park Observatory Complex, where he's volunteered since 1975.

Since then, Wiggins has talked to thousands about astronomy through his work at Hansen Planetarium. Over the years, many people have seen Wiggins' name in newspaper articles about space, and many have also seen him on TV. When he retired as the planetarium's education specialist, he continued doing school visits and demonstrations as a NASA ambassador and for the University of Utah. Radio listeners might also remember him for his traffic and astronomy reports on KSL.