Yerkes refractor definition of Yerkes refractor in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Yerkes Observatory, astronomical observatory observatory, scientific facility especially equipped to detect and record naturally occurring scientific phenomena. Although geological and meteorological observatories exist, the term is generally applied to astronomical observatories.
..... Click the link for more information. located in Williams Bay, Wis., on the shore of Lake Geneva. It was founded in 1892 with funds provided by Charles T. Yerkes Yerkes, Charles Tyson (yûr`kēz, –kəs), 1837–1905, American financier, b. Philadelphia.
..... Click the link for more information. and its first director was George E. Hale Hale, George Ellery, 1868–1938, American astronomer, b. Chicago, grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1890. He founded and directed three great observatories (Yerkes, Mt.
..... Click the link for more information. . The observatory is administered by the Univ. of Chicago. The principal instrument is a 40-in. refracting telescope telescope, traditionally, a system of lenses, mirrors, or both, used to gather light from a distant object and form an image of it. Traditional optical telescopes, which are the subject of this article, also are used to magnify objects on earth and in astronomy;
..... Click the link for more information. , completed in 1897, the largest of its type in the world; its size is very near the practical limit for a refractor because of distortions caused by the weight of the lens itself. Other equipment includes a 41-in. and two 24-in. reflecting telescopes and a number of specialized instruments. Principal programs include astrometry, and studies of comets, galaxies, and the interstellar medium.

Yerkes Observatory (redirected from Yerkes refractor)

Yerkes Observatory
(redirected from Yerkes refractor)