Austin Hinkel was a high school student the first time he peered through a telescope at Thomas More University and saw Jupiter's moons. That evening changed his career. Now he runs the same observatory where it happened, and he's preparing a new season of public lectures for Crestview Hills residents and anyone else willing to look up.
Hinkel, an assistant professor of physics and director of the Thomas More Observatory, hosts six 50-minute talks each academic year on subjects from exoplanets and dark matter to the naming conventions astronomers use. The series has run since fall 2023, drawing community members onto the campus along the back of Thomas More's Crestview Hills grounds.
"I like how I can see people's minds being blown," Hinkel told the NKY Tribune in a profile published Monday, August 3.
The spring 2026 season wrapped with two Saturday talks: "PLEASE Stop Letting Astronomers Name Things" on February 21 and "The Anthropocene: Understanding Modern Day Earth" on April 25. Fall 2025 featured lectures on temperatures in the universe, practical astronomy, and dark matter. Dates for the fall 2026 series have not yet been announced; the university directed interested residents to check the Observatory's events page for updates.
The observatory itself houses four telescopes, cameras, and computers that Thomas More describes as state-of-the-art. Students use the equipment for research and to observe phenomena like light pollution, the chemical makeup of stars, and stellar age. In 2026, a team of undergraduates supervised by Hinkel presented findings on local light pollution and its ecological impacts at the TMU Student Research Forum.
Hinkel earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Kentucky in 2021 and joined Thomas More as a faculty member in 2023 before taking over as observatory director in 2024. He has received NASA EPSCoR grants through the Kentucky Space Grant program for two consecutive academic years. His research focuses on galactic archaeology and galactic dynamics.
The lecture series is open to the public. Residents interested in attending or learning more can visit Hinkel's project page or contact him at 859-344-3364.
Upcoming community events
- Live music and dance on TANK buses along Dixie Highway: Thursday, August 20.
