McCormick Observatory facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Leander McCormick Observatory |
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Leander McCormick Observatory at night
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| Organization | Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Albemarle County, Virginia, US | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coordinates
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38°1′58.2″N 78°31′20.4″W / 38.032833°N 78.522333°W
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| Altitude | 264 meters (866 ft) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Established | 1884 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website McCormick Observatory |
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The Leander McCormick Observatory is a special place where people study the stars and planets. It's one of the astronomical observatories run by the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia. You can find it just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, on top of a hill called Mount Jefferson. The observatory is named after Leander J. McCormick, who gave the money to build its main telescope and the building itself.
Contents
History of the Observatory
How the Observatory Started
Leander McCormick came from a family of inventors. His brother, Cyrus H. McCormick, became famous for making and selling a machine called a mechanical reaper. This machine helped farmers harvest crops much faster.
In 1870, Leander McCormick decided he wanted to donate a very large telescope to his home state of Virginia. There were some delays because of financial challenges. After thinking about it for a few years, he chose the University of Virginia. A professor named Charles Scott Venable helped convince him to make the gift to the university. In 1878, the University of Virginia officially received the telescope donation.
Building the Great Telescope
The main telescope at the observatory is a 65-centimeter (about 26-inch) refracting telescope. It was built by Alvan Clark & Sons in Massachusetts. They were known as the best telescope makers of their time. When it was finished, it was one of the largest telescopes in the United States and the second largest in the world.
An interesting fact: In 1877, before the McCormick telescope was even fully installed, Alvan Clark used its lens to confirm the discovery of Mars's moons! This happened just one day after they were first seen by another astronomer.
The telescope and the observatory building were finished in 1884. The observatory was officially opened on April 13, 1885. The dome that covers the telescope was also very large for its time, measuring 45 feet across.
Early Discoveries and Research
Even before the telescope was fully ready, astronomers at the observatory made important observations. On December 6, 1882, they watched the Transit of Venus. This is when Venus passes directly in front of the Sun.
The first director, Ormond Stone, led a project to map the positions of stars in the southern sky. They also studied double stars (two stars orbiting each other) and nebulae (clouds of gas and dust in space).
Later, starting in 1914, the second director, Samuel Alfred Mitchell, began a long-term project. They used photography to measure the distances to nearby stars. This is called measuring stellar parallax. This important work continued for over 80 years, helping scientists figure out how far away thousands of stars are. Other astronomers like Peter van de Kamp also studied the number and types of stars in different parts of the sky. This helped them learn about the size and shape of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
The Observatory Today
Today, the Leander McCormick Observatory is mostly used for teaching students and for public events. People can visit and learn about astronomy and the history of the observatory. The main research of the Astronomy Department now happens at other places, like the Fan Mountain Observatory.
Since the 1880s, the observatory has also been a place where daily weather observations are taken. It has been part of the National Weather Service's weather observation program since 1890.
The telescope at McCormick Observatory is special because it's the largest Alvan Clark refractor that is still on its original mount.
See also
- List of astronomical observatories
- List of largest optical refracting telescopes
