Goethe Link Observatory facts for kids
The Goethe Link Observatory is a special place near Brooklyn, Indiana, in the United States. It's like a big eye looking at the sky! Indiana University owns it, and the Indiana Astronomical Society helps run it. They use it to study stars, planets, and other cool things in space. Its special code for astronomers is 760.
Quick facts for kids Goethe Link Observatory |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | Indiana University (Indiana Astronomical Society) |
||||||||
| Location | Brooklyn, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||
|
Coordinates
|
39°33′00″N 86°23′42″W / 39.55000°N 86.39500°W
|
||||||||
| Altitude | 293 metres (962 ft) | ||||||||
| Established | 1939 | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
Contents
A Gift from Dr. Goethe Link
This observatory is named after Dr. Goethe Link. He was a surgeon from Indianapolis who loved looking at the stars as a hobby. Dr. Link used his own money to build the observatory. Construction started in 1937, and the main telescope was first used in 1939. In 1948, he gave the observatory to Indiana University so more people could learn about space.
Discovering Asteroids
The Indiana Asteroid Program
From 1949 to 1966, a special project called the Indiana Asteroid Program happened at Goethe Link Observatory. Scientists used a 10-inch telescope, called an astrograph, for this program. They were looking for new asteroids.
Asteroids Found
The program was very successful! They found 119 new asteroids. These discoveries were officially credited to "Indiana University." Two of these asteroids were even named after the observatory and its university:
- 1602 Indiana was found in 1950.
- 1728 Goethe Link was found in 1964.
Moving to a Darker Sky
Dealing with Light Pollution
As cities grew, more and more lights from homes and streets made the sky brighter. This is called light pollution. It made it harder for the telescopes at Goethe Link Observatory to see faint objects in space. By the 1960s, the light pollution was too much.
A New Location
Because of the bright lights, Indiana University built a new facility. It was in the Morgan–Monroe State Forest, a much darker place. This new site was called the Morgan–Monroe Station. Today, Indiana University mostly uses even bigger telescopes for its research. These are the WIYN 3.5M and 0.9M telescopes. They are located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, where the skies are very dark and clear.
See also
In Spanish: Observatorio Goethe Link para niños
