学校は創立一年目にして、なんと天文部が存在していたんですよ
in the first year the school was established, (なんと?) the astronomy club existed.
what purpose is it serving here?
Answer
According to 明鏡国語辞典:
なんと【何と】
🈔〘感〙強い驚きや感動の気持ちを表すときに発する語。「なんと、できたではないか。」
The なんと in your sentence is a 感動詞(interjection), not a 副詞(adverb). It is uttered to express one's surprise or amazement. This なんと cannot be rephrased as なんて, and can mean "Believe it or not", "To my surprise", "Surprisingly enough", etc.
Examples from Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary:
その時部屋に入ってきたのは、なんと私の妻であった。
The woman who then entered the room was -- why! -- my own wife! / Who should then enter the room but my own wife!
借金が積もり積もって、なんと１０万円になった。
The debt went on increasing, reaching at last a surprising amount of 100,000 yen.
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