Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory facts for kids

The Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory is a cool place in Washington, D.C., where you can look at the stars and the Sun! It's located at the National Air and Space Museum. This observatory has a powerful 16-inch telescope that helps people explore the wonders of space.

A Look Back: How It Started

The observatory was named after Phoebe Waterman Haas because of a big donation. This gift came from the Thomas W. Haas Foundation. The money helped create a special program for the public to learn about space. The observatory first opened its doors in 2009. This was a special year because it was the International Year of Astronomy, celebrating how much we've learned about the universe!

Exploring Space: The Telescopes

The Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory has different telescopes for different views of space. There's a main telescope for looking at stars and planets at night. There are also special telescopes for safely observing the Sun during the day.

The Cook Memorial Telescope

The main telescope is a 16-inch Cassegrain reflector. It's called the Cook Memorial Telescope. This telescope was bought in 1967 by the Harvard College Observatory. It was used by many students at the Oak Ridge Observatory for years. Now, it's on loan to the National Air and Space Museum. It helps visitors see amazing things in the night sky.

Sun Telescopes

For looking at our closest star, the Sun, the observatory has a 4-inch Sun Gun Telescope. This telescope lets you see the Sun's bright surface, called the photosphere. There are also other tools that show different parts of the Sun. You can see the chromosphere, which is a layer of the Sun's atmosphere. These tools let you see it in special colors, like red (called hydrogen-alpha) and purple (called calcium-K).

Visiting the Observatory

The observatory is on the east side of the National Air and Space Museum. It's open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday, usually from noon to 3 P.M. It also opens one night a month for stargazing. If it's raining, the observatory stays closed. Friendly staff are always there to help you use the telescopes and answer your questions.

About Phoebe Waterman Haas

The observatory is named after an amazing woman named Phoebe Waterman Haas. She lived in the early 1900s and loved astronomy. She was one of the first women in the United States to earn a PhD in astronomy.

Phoebe studied at the University of California, Berkeley. She made observations at the Lick Observatory in California. She might have been the first woman to operate a very large telescope there. This was the Lick's 36-inch refractor. Phoebe studied different types of stars. Her research was the first published by a woman at Lick Observatory.

After getting married, she left her university job. But she kept her love for astronomy! She became an active "citizen scientist." She was also a leader in the American Association of Variable Star Observers.

See also

• List of astronomical observatories