Boyden Observatory
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