This telescope was made in the mid-19th century for the Dudley
Observatory by Alvan Clark & Sons of Cambridge Mass. The Clark
firm was one of the most prominent American telescope makers of
the period and supplied fine instruments to many universities and
observatories. "Comet Catcher" or "Comet Seeker" telescopes of
this type were so called because of their relatively wide field of
view and portability.
The comet catcher has a four inch object glass and a focal
length of three feet. It was used by the astronomer Christian
Henry Peters to make the first discovery ever by a Dudley
Observatory astronomer, a comet found by Peters in 1857 and named
for one of the Observatory trustees, Thomas W. Olcott. Later
Dudley Observatory assistant Charles Wells used it in 1882 to
discover the first comet of that year.
