You can help

Your support has contributed to the preservation of the Observatory and the telescope. Your continued assistance is appreciated. Gifts can be made through the Illinois Foundation. To learn how to donate, please visit the web site below for details:

observatory.astro.illinois.edu/ friends/donate/

Friends of the Observatory Issue #11 March 2015 Spring equinox

Update

The architectural feasibility study is underway and should be complete by summer. The Friends along with the Provost and College of LAS are sharing the cost of the study. Thus far we have reached 92% of our goal to fund this study. Thank you to all those who have helped out and contributed.

How to Contribute

Help us spread the word. We have a presentation on the history of the Observatory that is available for anyone who is interested. Consider making a presentation for a local astronomy club, preservation group, or alumni. Contact Mike Svec at mtsvec@gmail.com.

Clocks in the sky The 3-inch Warner & Swasey transit telescope was once

mounted in the east central transit room. When installed in 1896, it was arguable the most precise and accurate scientific instrument on campus. Using the transit of the sun and stars across the celestial meridian, the astronomers precisely set the Observatory’s solar and sidereal clocks. For a few years around 1899 a master clock located in the clock room controlled other university slave clocks. The master clock in the sky regulated time on campus. The Observatory adopted a new technology and installed a wireless radio receiver in 1914. Radio signals from the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC were used to adjust the clocks. The transit telescope was used by students to determine the celestial coordinates of stars. Spring begins on the vernal equinox (March 20th at 22:45 UT), the point where the sun crosses the celestial equator. This event serves as the zero point for measuring a star’s right ascension or sky longitude, anchoring the celestial coordinates.

Circa 1910

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Issue #11, March 2015 Spring equinox

The  University  of  Illinois  Observatory  has  been  included  as  a  short  case  study  on  the  Portal  to  the  Heritage  of  Astronomy.  The  web  portal  is  the  result  of  a  collaboration  of  the  UNESCO’s  Astronomy  and  World  Heritage  Initiative,  the  International  Working  Group  on  Astronomy  and  World  Heritage,  and  the  International  Astronomical  Union’s  (IAU)  Astronomy  and  World  Heritage  Working  Group.    The  purpose  of  the  portal  is  to  raise  awareness  of  the  importance  of  astronomical  heritage  worldwide  and  to  facilitate  efforts  to  identify,  protect,  and  preserve  that  heritage.      The  portal  includes  World  Heritage  sites  related  to  astronomy,  full  case  studies,  and  short  case  studies.  Short  case  studies  help  with  comparative  studies  and  illustrate  one  of  the  16  thematic  essays,  in  our  case  Astronomy  from  the  Renaissance  to  the  mid-­‐twentieth  century.  Case  studies  are  submitted  and  reviewed  before  inclusion  on  the  list.  Other  short  case  studies  include  the  Mt.  Wilson  Observatory,  Meudon  Observatory  in  France,  Jantar  Mantar  in  India,  and  the  Dengfeng  Observatory  in  China.      The  Astronomy  and  World  Heritage  Initiative  recognizes  the  sky  as  a  common  human  heritage  that  forms  an  integral  part  of  our  environment.  The  heritage  bears  witness  to  our  understanding  of  the  sky  from  our  earliest  times  to  the  present  day.  Cultural  sites  and  natural  landscapes  that  encapsulate  the  connection  between  humankind  and  the  sky  need  to  be  preserved.      

Visit  the  site  at  http://www2.astronomicalheritage.net/  

 

BOARD MEMBERS Michael Svec, FUIO President, Furman University David Leake, FUIO Secretary, Parkland

College Michael McCann, FUIO Treasurer,

Chase Bank Margaret Gelman, University of Illinois,

NCSA Steve Licata, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Leslie Looney, University of Illinois Dept. of Astronomy Edward Murphy, University of Virginia

Dept. of Astronomy David Ryan, Republic Bank of Chicago Craig Sutter, Retired Matthew Vogel, Northrop Grumman

Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy

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Issue #11, March 2015 Spring equinox

Over  the  century,  the  Observatory  has  hosted  many  guests  and  visitors.  For  ten  days  at  the  end  of  December  1916,  Indian  Rabindranath  Tagore  (1861-­‐1941)  visited  the  University  giving  several  public  lectures.  Sir  Tagore  was  a  prominent  poet,  writer,  novelist,  and  the  first  non-­‐European  to  win  the  Novel  Prize  in  Literature  in  1913.  Introduced  to  the  night  sky  by  his  father,  Tagore  had  a  love  of  astronomy  and  often  met  with  scientists  including  Albert  Einstein.  Physics  professor  Jakob  Kunz  hosted  a  private  reception  at  his  home  when  he  visited  in  1916.  The  Daily  Illini  noted  “While  here  Mr.  Tagore  visited  the  observatory,  where  for  the  first  time  he  viewed  the  stars  and  the  moon  through  a  large  telescope.”  Kunz  was  very  familiar  with  the  Observatory  since  he  was  a  friend  with  director  Joel  Stebbins  and  he  created  photoelectric  cells  for  Stebbins’s  photometric  research.    

Hosting a special guest

The  Observatory  enjoyed  30  seconds  of  ESPN2  fame  during  the  November  22,  2014  Illinois-­‐Penn  State  football  game.  Included  in  the  footage  was  the  exterior  and  the  telescope  as  the  dome  shutter  was  opened  to  the  clear  blue  skies.  Bryan  Dunn  and  Brian  Fields  took  the  time  to  host  the  camera  crew.  It  is  not  very  often  that  you  hear  sports  commenters  making  statements  such  as    “During  the  break  Matt  Dillon  was  telling  me  that  the  Observatory  still  contains  a  12-­‐inch  Brashear  refractor.“  The  football  team  also  did  well  winning  16-­‐14.    

The Year of Pluto This  year  marks  the  85th  anniversary  of  Pluto’s  discovery  by  Illinois  native  Clyde  Tombaugh  at  Lowell  Observatory.    The  small  size  and  great  distance  from  Earth  have  kept  Pluto  mysterious.  Some  of  Pluto  secrets  will  be  revealed  when  the  dwarf  planets  gets  its  first  visitor  from  Earth.  NASA’s  New  Horizon  spacecraft  will  fly  by  Pluto  on  July  14th  providing  our  first  close  up  view  of  the  distant  icy  world.  New  Horizons  will  continue  past  Pluto  and  its  satellites  to  explore  other  Kuiper  Belt  objects.  

From  Earth,  Pluto  is  a  very  dim  and  challenging  object  to  find  visually.  The  theoretical  limiting  magnitude  of  the  12-­‐inch,  or  the  faintest  star  detectable,  is  14.8  magnitude.  This  is  very  near  the  typical  brightness  of  Pluto.    Light  pollution  makes  it  even  more  challenging  to  find  faint  objects.  Yet  Pluto  has  been  visually  observed  from  campus.  One  example  was  the  night  of  May  11,  1989  as  it  passed  near  the  meridian  just  after  midnight  with  a  first  quarter  moon  setting  in  the  west.  Pluto  that  night  was  at  a  magnitude  of  13.8  including  atmospheric  extinction.  

ESPN Spotlight

Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Laureate

Issue #11, March 2015 Spring equinox

Even in the early 1960s it was clear that the Observatory was inadequate for the Astronomy Department. It was originally designed and built as a one-man outpost of the Mathematics Department, and while there were additions, they were only stop gaps. So it was no surprise that the move was made [in 1979] to what was suppose to be an “ILIAC” computer home on the far, far west side of campus. At least that was better than a few floors in some monstrous structure that really belonged to somebody – or nobody – else. Demolishing the Observatory, perhaps to clear the way for a parking garage, would be the equivalent of tearing down Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. But why not?

One important reason for not doing so is that the Observatory instantly means “astronomy” to everyone who looks at it. The Observatory at once and universally suggests astronomy and nothing else. Being so distinctive and located in the heart of campus, every weekday would see a large number of people interested in astronomy visiting for the building for one reason or another. Astronomy faculty, UIAS members, and 101-type undergrads wandered in and out all day and well into the night, so it was impossible for them not to interact, which was of benefit to all concerned. Perhaps just as important, this circumstance helped counter what could be called the Yerkes-Mount Wilson “The Public Be Damned” widespread attitude that turned off much of the public at that time.

The Observatory’s Role Ronald A. Schorn

Illinois Astronomy Ph.D. 1963

Follow the Friends of the University of Illinois Observatory on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/U.of.Illinois.Observatory OR http://observatory.astro.illinois.edu/

The Observatory’s Instrument collection is at http://uiobservatory.omeka.net/ Contact us via email at Observatory-friends@illinois.edu

It’s good to know that elementary astronomy students (as well as UIAS members of course) are/will be using the 12-inch for observing sessions. Of course one could attach a CCD camera at the focus and show things in a large classroom, but viewers will always have the suspicion that the show was just a big fake, a video made at the Disney studios. Sorry, but even the IMAX just doesn’t cut it. Experience by the ton demonstrates that nothing impresses more people more deeply than actually seeing things at the eyepiece of a telescope, and makes the strongest possible favorable impression of astronomy. Never underestimate the deep feelings or awe and mystery that many feel in the dimly lighted dome of the Observatory.

Let there be much praise for the UIAS, whose varied membership greatly enlarges the presence of the (always) small Astronomy Department. The number of professional astronomers will always be tiny compared to the support they need, and the AAS has long come around to realizing this and now actively courts amateur astronomers.

“If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.”

Rabindranath Tagore