Boyden Observatory

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Discovered asteroid : 4
(4301) Boyden 7th August 1966
(5298) Paraskevopoulos 7th August 1966
(11781) Alexroberts 7th August 1966
(14310) Shuttleworth 7th August 1966

The Boyden Observatory (IAU code 074) is an astronomical observatory and scientific institute with attached teaching.

It was originally founded by Harvard University near Lima in Peru in 1889 . In 1927 it moved to its current location, south of the small town of Maselspoort , northeast of the city of Bloemfontein in South Africa . It is administered by the University of the Free State . The observatory was named after Uriah A. Boyden (1804–1879), who bequeathed US $ 238,000 in his will to the Harvard College Observatory for astronomical purposes. Its first and longtime director was John S. Paraskevopoulos .

The observatory houses the third largest optical telescope in South Africa. It is the 1.5 m UFS Boyden Rockefeller reflector. Other telescopes include the 33 cm Alvan Clark refractor, which is over a century old, the historic 25 cm Metcalf triplet telescope , the 40 cm Nishimura reflector, the 40 cm Watcher robotic telescope , a 20 cm Coelostat solar telescope and numerous smaller and mobile telescopes.

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Coordinates: 29 ° 2 ′ 20.3 ″  S , 26 ° 24 ′ 14.9 ″  E