STEM’S HIDDEN GEM
It can be unsettling when you’re driving through 3 million acres of North Carolina mountain wilderness, and a nine-story radio telescope suddenly looms up above the treetops. The massive structure, with its 85-foot dish, is one of four radio telescopes, two radio arrays and five optical telescopes at the impressive Learning Center at PARI.
PARI, which stands for Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, is a bustling hub of STEM education and wonder for Scouts and non-Scouts alike, tucked into a valley in the Pisgah National Forest. After serving as a NASA facility in the 1960s and then a National Security Agency site, it now hosts numerous space
