Halley’s Comet left behind fond memories for Hodge
SANTA MONICA COLLEGE — To many, retiring Planetarium Director Jon Hodge’s reach has always extended beyond this world. With a recently discovered asteroid now bearing his name, it will remain there for perpetuity.
Hodge, currently on medical leave and set to retire from Santa Monica College, has been known for his fascinating and lay-friendly shows that have attracted tens of thousands of adults and children over the past 26 years.
Asteroid No. 18117, now called “Jonhodge,” was discovered on July 5 at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Jonhodge is located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Colleagues in the Earth Science Department organized the effort to have an asteroid named after Hodge. They recently presented him with a certificate to honor his educational efforts.
"I can't think of a more worthy individual to receive this eternal honor,” said Vicki Drake, chair of the SMC Earth Science Department, which includes astronomy.
“I can't think of a more worthy individual to receive this eternal honor” — VICKI DRAKE Chair, SMC Earth Science Department
Officially, Hodge is being recognized for his "enormous contribution to the dissemination of astronomical and scientific knowledge to the general public, college students and schoolchildren,” according to his colleagues.
For years, his shows have captivated audiences at SMC, UCLA and the Griffith Observatory.
SMC astronomy professor Simon Balm, knowing that Hodge was approaching retirement, decided he’d initiate the effort to name an asteroid in Hodge’s honor.
Balm said the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the organization responsible for ratifying asteroid names. Asteroids are typically named after those who have made contributions to science, but many bear the monikers of other famous people, such as the Beatles and Monty Python, Balm said.
Balm contacted Donald Yeomens — one of the world’s foremost asteroid astronomers, who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena — to let him know SMC faculty wanted an asteroid named after Hodge.
Yeomens contacted an astronomer in Flagstaff, Ariz., who identified an asteroid he discovered that had yet been named and agreed to name it for Hodge.
The paperwork was submitted to an IAU office at Harvard University, in Boston, Mass., where it’s been approved.
"I was completely bowled over," Hodge said, when he was presented the news. “I was, for once, speechless."
Colleagues said it’s difficult to imagine Hodge speechless because his whole life has been devoted to talking. Over the years, he has talked to audiences about several universal subjects. His shows included catchy titles such as "Apocalypse Now: The Asteroid Risk," "How Big is Space?" and "This Alien Earth."
Hodge’s public planetarium shows have been held on Friday nights and feature the "Night Sky" and other shows that change monthly. Hodge has also put on shows and lectured to thousands of SMC students and schoolchildren, tailoring his material to his audience, colleagues said.
“Jon’s very charismatic and knowledgeable about the history of astronomy,” said Gary Fouts, an SMC astronomy professor. “He could always direct us to what we needed.”
Fouts said Hodge has 900 people on his e-mail list, those he’s invited to upcoming shows.
After graduating from USC with a degree in medieval science, Hodge worked at the Griffith Observatory, starting in 1971. First, he was a guide, and later a lecturer. He took over as SMC's planetarium director in 1979 and continued to lecture at Griffith until it closed three years ago for renovations.
Hodge served on Griffith’s curatorial committee, which has dealt with the design of new exhibits that will be on public display when the observatory reopens in 2006. He has also worked with UCLA, organizing popular public seminars.
Hodge has established himself in Southern California's active astronomical scene, bringing in guest lecturers to SMC from such organizations as Griffith, Cal Tech, UCLA and the Jet Propulsion Lab.
He is also a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the International Planetarium Society.
"He knows everybody and everybody knows him," said John Mosley, program supervisor at Griffith, who has worked with Hodge for 28 years.
The planetarium was closed for nearly five years in the early and mid-1990s due to a reconstruction project. Then, shortly before the planetarium was to reopen, it was damaged and remained closed because of the 1994 Northridge earthquake. With a gift from the late John Drescher, the planetarium reopened in June 1997. It had new seats, a dome, projection system and other high-tech features.
Although the planetarium was closed for nearly five years, Hodge's illustrated lectures continued in an SMC classroom with no dip in attendance, colleagues said.
Hodge, proud of the new John Drescher Planetarium at SMC, also recalled other highlights of his career. Among them were the close approach of Halley's Comet to Earth in 1985 and 1986, the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter in the early 1990s, and the Earth's close approach to Mars in August 2003. “Halley's Comet brought out a huge number of people," Hodge said. "There were nights we'd have 300 people standing in line for SMC's rooftop telescope.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 8, 2005. Read the original PDF.