The Student Observatory

The Student Observatory is currently used for Astronomy Club meetings and astronomy class observing sessions. The facility contains a beautiful refractor housed in a well-kept telescope dome, a classroom, a small library, a transit telescope room, a flat observing roof, and a darkroom. In addition to our main facility, there is a nearby annex with a roll-off roof, a permanently mounted comet finder and a giant 17-inch Dobsonian telescope.

In the dome is a 9.5-inch refracting telescope manufactured by Warner and Swasey of Cleveland, Ohio in 1896. The original clock drive, which was run by weights, was removed some time later and replaced by an electric motor. The telescope is still fully functional and is especially well-suited for planets and globular clusters. Viewing Saturn's rings is more impressive at the S.O. than with Perkins Observatory's 32-inch telescope.

The transit telescope was originally used to observe stars crossing the local meridian. By comparing these observations with astronomical tables, this allowed astronomers to make sure their clocks were set accurately and running precisely. The eyepiece of the scope contains a small etched crosshair which was illuminated by the light of candles mounted on two small arms off the main shaft of the telescope. The transit scope is not currently is use both because we have other ways to set our clocks nowadays and because the doors in the ceiling no longer open -- the counterweights have fallen off and the rest of the mechanism isn't really working anyway. Someday in the future we hope to have this room restored.