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Dudley Observatory
Supporting research and education in astronomy, astrophysics, and the history of astronomy |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 26, 2001 Contact: George Wise, 518-382-7583
The role of the Capital Region's Dudley Observatory in a pioneering international program to map the stars will be featured in the an exhibit marking the centennial of the Carnegie Institution of Washington that opens December 7 in Washington D.C. The exhibit, "Our Expanding Universe: Celebrating a Century of Carnegie Science" honors the first hundred years of the Carnegie Institution, established by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to fund American research. One of that institution's 11 major initial projects was the Department of Meridian Astrometry, headquartered at the Dudley Observatory, then located in Albany, N.Y. That Department, under the leadership of the father-son team of astronomers Lewis and Benjamin Boss, carried out a 35 year project to map with unprecedented accuracy the positions of 33,342 stars easily visible from earth. The project provided crucial knowledge for understanding the nature of the Milky Way galaxy, and for establishing the distance scale used to measure the dimensions of the universe. As part of this project, the Department set up an observatory in San Luis, Argentina to observe stars visible only in the southern hemisphere. It is this 1909-1911 expedition, a pioneering episode of international scientific cooperation, that is featured in the Carnegie exhibit. Artifacts on display include the lens and other portions of a large telescope that was shipped to San Luis and back again. This marks the only time in history that a single earth-based telescope was used to map the entire heavens with high precision. Other items on display range from logbooks and observing cards to an invoice for the 52 boxes of astronomical instruments shipped between the two sites. The expedition sent three experienced astronomers and several recent graduates of the nation's top engineering schools southward on a two year effort to observe with extreme accuracy those stars only visible from the southern hemisphere. The effort was marked by many adventures ranging from a shipwreck to rumors of revolution that led the observatory to be protected by a contingent of Argentine troops. Overcoming these difficulties, as well as the more mundane ones of illness and eyestrain, the observing team set what will likely remain for all time the world record for rapid, accurate star observation, making more than 87,000 observations in two years, describing the position of those 15,333 stars. In that pre-computer era, it then took more than twenty years of hand calculations by dozens of Albany based "computers", mainly young women, to turn those observations into four volumes describing with high precision the positions and motions of those stars. The volumes served a generation of astronomers as an invaluable reference in their efforts to understand the motion and evolution of the stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public and located at the Carnegie Institution's headquarters at 16th and P Streets, NW, Washington DC, will run from December 7, 2001 through May 31, 2002. In addition to astronomy, targets of Carnegie Institution support ranged from biology to studies of the earth's magnetic field. For more information on the exhibit, see the Web site http://carnegieinstitution.org/new_home_page/centennial_home_page.html The Dudley Observatory , now located in Schenectady, N.Y., is the world's oldest independent organization for supporting astronomical research and its history. Its activities range from the support of astronomical education in the Capital Region to awards that fund the work of world-class researchers in forefront studies of astronomy and its history. For more information on it, see its web page, www.dudleyobservatory.org. |
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Dudley Observatory |
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Copyright © 2007 Dudley Observatory. All Rights Reserved. |
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