Goodsell Observatory
| Goodsell Observatory | |
|---|---|
 Goodsell Observatory from the south |
|
| founding | 1887 |
| IAU code | 741 |
| Type | Observatory |
| Coordinates | 44 ° 27 '43 " N , 93 ° 9' 9" W |
| place | Northfield |
| management | Carleton College |
| Website | Physics and Astronomy Goodsell Observatory |
The Goodsell Observatory is an observatory at Carleton College in Northfield Minnesota , USA . It was built in 1887 and was the largest observatory in the state of Minnesota at the time. The Goodsell Observatory and its predecessor, a smaller observatory that opened in 1878, served as a widely consulted timing station and brought Carleton College national importance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Goodsell Observatory was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 because of its national importance in architecture, communication, education, engineering, literature and science . It was nominated as one of the few intact observatories of the 19th century (complete with a large collection of historical scientific equipment) and its beautiful one for its significant time signal, its association with scientific literature (founder William W. Payne also founded Popular Astronomy ) Romanesque architecture and its continuous use as a teaching aid. While the telescope is used in astronomy classes, the building houses offices and a classroom used by Carleton's linguistics and environmental studies departments .
history
William W. Payne, one of Carleton's first professors, taught mathematics and natural philosophy, and set up a course in astronomy in his freshman year . The course became a program, and Carleton's President and Board of Trustees agreed to set up a small astronomical observatory on campus. It was Carleton's fifth building. Although small, the observatory housed instruments of the highest quality, including an 8 ¼ "refractor from Alvan Clark & Sons and a 3" Fauth meridian circle .
Shortly after the small observatory opened in 1878, a telegraph line was set up from the Carleton campus to Northfield and the observatory began transmitting a time signal at three minutes to noon each day. The signal was based on astronomical measurements and was used by cities across Minnesota, as well as banks, jewelers, and the various railroad lines of the Northwest, including the Northern Pacific Railway and the Great Northern Railway . A United States Army Signal Corps station was set up at the observatory in 1881 and transmitted meteorological data to Washington, DC The facility also served as the headquarters of a state weather service from 1883 to 1886.
Setup and use
In 1886 the college bought a new meridian circle with a gift of $ 5,000 from James J. Hill, whose railways benefited from Carleton's time service. The meridian circle was too large to fit into the existing building, so Carleton decided to build a new, larger observatory. The second observatory was designed by Harvey Ellis of the J. Walter Stevens architectural firm in Saint Paul. It was completed in 1887 and named after one of the college's founders, Charles M. Goodsell.
By 1888, time signals from the Carleton Goodsell Observatory were used on more than 19,000 km of railroad line. Railroad companies to the northwest believed the signal coming from Carleton was more accurate than that from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC Precise time was important to avoid collisions and to keep trains on schedule.
In 1891 the Goodsell Observatory was equipped with a 16.2-inch (41 cm) telescope made by the well-known Pennsylvania instrument maker John Brashear. It was then the twelfth largest refractor in the world and the sixth largest in the United States. The old observatory building was converted into a library and demolished in 1905 to make way for Laird Hall. The observatory acquired a star clock in 1910. In 1922, Carleton Professor Edward Fath built one of the first photoelectric photometers in the country in Goodsell . The temporary service continued until 1931 and the study of astronomy was of paramount importance in Carleton well into the 20th century.
Goodsell served as the model for the Chamberlin Observatory at the University of Denver .
The collection of meteorites on display at Goodsell was given to the college by meteoritologist Harvey H. Nininger in kind for his daughter's teaching in 1942.
Web links
- Goodsell Observatory, Northfield (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ History of Goodsell Observatory | Page Five. In: https://apps.carleton.edu/ . Retrieved May 13, 2020 (English).
- ↑ NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY | NOMINATION FORM. In: https://npgallery.nps.gov/ . Retrieved May 13, 2020 (English).