Rutherfurd Observatory facts for kids
The Rutherfurd Observatory is a special place at Columbia University in New York City. It's named after Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, who was a famous scientist interested in stars and planets. This observatory helps students and scientists study the sky.
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What is Rutherfurd Observatory?
The Rutherfurd Observatory is a place where people use telescopes and other tools to look at space. It's like a science lab for astronomers. For many years, it has been an important part of how Columbia University teaches about the universe.
A Moving History
The observatory didn't always stay in one spot.
- First, its telescopes were in the middle of Manhattan.
- Later, they moved to a place called the Stuyvesant Estate.
- When Columbia University built its main campus, the telescopes were kept in a "transit building." This building was where the Interdisciplinary Science Building is today.
- Finally, in 1927, the observatory found its permanent home. It moved to the very top of Pupin Physics Laboratories.
The First Computer
Right below the observatory, on the 14th floor of Pupin Hall, was Professor Wallace Eckert's special lab. In 1933 and 1934, Professor Eckert built something amazing there. It was the very first machine that could do scientific math problems all by itself! This was a huge step for computers.
The Famous Telescope
For many years, the Rutherfurd Observatory had a very special telescope. It was a large, twelve-inch (30 cm) refractor telescope. A refractor telescope uses lenses to make distant objects look closer.
A Telescope's Journey
This telescope was built in 1916 by a famous company called Alvan Clark. It was originally made for the government of Russia. They wanted to use it to watch a solar eclipse happening in Russia.
But then, World War I started. German submarines, called U-boats, made it dangerous to ship things across the ocean. So, the telescope couldn't be sent to Russia. It stayed in a big wooden box in a warehouse.
After the war, a new government led by Vladimir Lenin took over Russia. They decided they didn't want the telescope anymore and wouldn't pay for it. So, in 1920, Columbia University bought it instead!
A New Home for the Telescope
For a long time, this special telescope was used mostly to teach students at Columbia. They learned how to look at stars and planets through it.
In 1997, the telescope was sold to the South Carolina State Museum. This museum is very good at taking care of old Alvan Clark telescopes. The museum plans to use it again very soon for real observations of space.
Radio Astronomy
In the 1970s, scientists at Columbia University started a project called the "Columbia CO Survey." They built a special 1.2-meter radio telescope. This telescope was in a small dome at the observatory. It was the first telescope to create maps of the sky using a specific type of radio waves. This helped scientists learn more about gas and dust in space.
Challenges for the Observatory
The Rutherfurd Observatory has been working continuously since Pupin Hall was built. However, in 2009, a new building called the "Northwest Corner Building" was built right next to it. This new building is six floors taller than Pupin Hall.
This new building blocks a lot of the observatory's view of the sky. It also creates a lot of light, which makes it harder to see faint objects in space. This has made it more challenging for the observatory to do its work.
