Astronomer

For Seminole state college planetorium director Derek Demeter, Studying the night sky is always illuminating

- Cheri Henderson

Starstruck at age 6. His dad took Demeter to see a show about Mars at the old John Young Planetarium. Astronomy “has been an addiction ever since.” The tipping point was “when [the comet] Hale-Bopp came in. I was about 10 years old. That was my first time to look through a pair of binoculars and see something that was not of this planet. That catapulted me.”

Sharing his knowledge. A UCF graduate with a double major in physics and technical education, Demeter has been the director of the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium at Seminole State College in Sanford, where he received his associate degree, since 2007. “I had an eagerness to teach,” but he didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk or a computer.