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Organization | Astronomy Department, University of Virginia |
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Location | Charlottesville, VA, USA |
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Coordinates | |
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Altitude | 264 meters (866 feet) |
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Webpage | {Link without Title} |
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Telescopes |
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McCormick Telescope | 26-inch refractor |
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The is one of the astronomical observatories operated by the
Astronomy Department of the
University Of Virginia and is situated in
Charlottesville, Virginia (USA). It is named after
Leander J. McCormick , who provided the funds for the telescope and observatory. Leander was the son of Robert McCormick, the inventor of the reaper, and brother of
Cyrus H. McCormick , who patented it, and undertook the large scale manufacture and marketing of the invention. The McCormick family's homestead of Walnut Grove was located near
Raphine , Virginia, although they relocated to
Chicago to carry out the manufacture of the reaper on a large scale in
1848 . It was in Chicago that Cyrus, Leander and their brother William founded what eventually became the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. In
1870 Leander decided to donate the largest telescope in the world to his home state of
Virginia . However, the financial impact of the
American Civil War on
Virginia as well as the impact of the
Great Chicago Fire on his own finances, delayed his efforts, and the telescope was the second largest in the world when completed.
It was largely through the efforts of Charles Scott Venable (
Aide-de-camp to
Gen. Robert E. Lee from
1862 to
1865 and professor of
Mathematics at the University of Virginia from
1865 to
1896 ) that McCormick finally (in
1877 ) decided to make his gift to the University of Virginia. For years he was also considering Washington College (later
Washington And Lee University ) in
Lexington, Virginia , since it was located much closer to the family homestead. In
1870 , Robert E. Lee, who was then president of Washington College, sent a letter of introduction to
Joseph Henry , secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution , making known McCormick's wishes to establish an astronomical observatory in the state.
The telescope and building were completed in
1885 , and at the time it was the largest telescope in the United States. The telescope was made by
Alvan Clark and Sons, of
Cambridgeport ,
Massachusetts , who were regarded as the finest telescope makers of the age.
The dome, at 45 feet, was the largest in the world when completed; it was designed by
Warner And Swasey with a unique three shutter design.
It was nearly a twin of the earlier 26-inch refractor at the
U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. However, the Clarks made some adjustments to the lens to improve the image quality over that of the Naval Observatory refractor. In
1877 while the McCormick Refractor was still in Cambridgeport, Clark used it to verify the discovery of the moons of
Mars the night after the discovery observations were made by
Asaph Hall with the Naval Observatory refractor.
Under the first director,
Ormond Stone , a program to measure the positions of southern stars was carried out (an extension on the Durchmusterung
Star Catalogue to -23 degrees). In addition, the orbits of southern double stars were measured and southern nebulae were observed.
The first published observations to be carried out at the Observatory, before the telescope was even complete, was of the
Transit Of Venus on
December 6 ,
1882 . Observations were made at the site of the observatory as well as at the
Rotunda of the University of Virginia.
Starting in
1914 the second director,
Samuel Alfred Mitchell , began a program to measure the distances to nearby stars (
Stellar Parallax ) using photography. This program continued under the next two directors, Harold Alden and Laurence Fredrick; over the course of more than 80 years, the distances to thousands of stars have been determined with the McCormick Refractor.
Peter Van De Kamp ,
Alexander N. Vyssotsky and
Emma T. R. Williams also carried out research on the number and types of stars seen in different directions, and from this deduced information about the size and shape of the
Milky Way .
Since the
1880s , daily weather observations have been taken at McCormick Observatory, and it has been part of the
National Weather Service 's
Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) since the programs inception in
1890 .
The telescope is the largest Alvin Clark refractor which still has its original Clark mount.
The Observatory is now used primarily for teaching and public outreach. The observational research of the
Astronomy Department is carried out at
Fan Mountain Observatory , and at other observatories.
- Alvan Clark & Sons, Artists in Optics, by Deborah Jean Warner and Robert B. Ariail, ISBN 0943396468
- Letter to the Hon. R. W. Thompson, Secretary of the Navy, Announcing the Discovery of the Satellites of Mars, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1877, vol 37, page 443-445, by John Rodgers
- History of McCormick Observatory {Link without Title}
- The McCormick reaper legend; the true story of a great invention, by Norbert Lyons, New York, Exposition Press {Link without Title}
