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Yerkes Observatory |
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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 , 1837–1905, American financier, b. Philadelphia. He began his business career as a clerk in a Philadelphia grain commission house. ..... 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 a scientific institution of the Uni-versity of Chicago (USA). It was organized in 1892–97, 22 kmfrom Chicago. Its instruments include a 102-cm (40-in.) refrac-tor (the largest in the world, constructed by A. G. Clark andpaid for by C. Yerkes), a 30-cm (12-in.) double refractor, afour-camera astrograph (largest objectives, 25 and 16 cm) witha 13-cm (5-in.) visual refractor, 102-cm (40-in.) and 60-cm(24-in.) reflectors, a Schmidt camera, and a 15-cm (6-in.) comet-finder. Work is conducted at the observatory on solar research, the determination of stellar parallaxes and radial velocities, thestudy of double stars, stellar polarization, stellar photometry, and the photographing of stars and planets. Yerkes Observatoryissues Publications (since 1900). Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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