Harlan J. Smith Telescope

Harlan J. Smith Telescope
Dome at dusk
The 2.7 meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope of the McDonal Observatory (USA) is used to point a laser beam to a reflector stationed on the surface of the moon.

The Harlan J. Smith Telescope is a 107-inch (2.7 m) telescope located at the McDonald Observatory, in Texas, in the United States. This telescope is one of several research telescopes that are part of the University of Texas at Austin observatory perched on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of west Texas. The telescope was completed in 1968 with substantial NASA assistance, and is named after Harlan James Smith, the first Texas director of McDonald Observatory. Smith was the Observatory Director for 26 years.

Vandalism damage

The telescope was the victim of an act of vandalism in February 1970. A newly hired worker suffered a mental breakdown and brought a hand gun into the observatory. After firing one shot at his supervisor, the worker then fired the remaining rounds into the Primary Mirror. The holes effectively reduced the 107-inch (2.7 m) telescope to the equivalent of a 106-inch telescope (or about 2.5 centimeters less), but did not affect the quality of the telescope's images, only the amount of light it can collect.[1]

Observations

The telescope has been used to observe many things. Some achievements includes the stars BD +17° 3248 and XO-1.

Jorge Meléndez of the Australian National University and Iván Ramírez of the University of Texas discovered the star HIP 56948 in 2007 using the Harlan J. Smith telescope at McDonald Observatory.[2]

Contemporaries on commissioning

Four largest telescopes 1968:

# Name /
Observatory		 Image Aperture Altitude First
Light 		Special advocate
1 Hale Telescope
Palomar Obs.		 200 inch
508 cm		 1713 m
(5620 ft)		 1949 Edwin Hubble
2 C. Donald Shane telescope
Lick Observatory		 120 inch
305 cm		 1283 m
(4209 ft)		 1959 Nicholas Mayall
C. Donald Shane
3 Harlan J. Smith Telescope
McDonald Observatory		 107 in
270 cm		 2070 m
(6791 ft)		 1968 Harlan J. Smith
4 Shajn 2.6m (Crimean 102 inch)
Crimean Astrophysical Obs.		 102 in
260 cm		 600 m
(1969 ft) [3]		 1961

See also

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy & Spaceflight home page - Accessed 28 March 2006
  2. ↑ Astrobio.net
  3. ↑ http://quake.stanford.edu/~crao/craoinfo/general.html

Coordinates: 30°40′18.45″N 104°01′19.23″W / 30.6717917°N 104.0220083°W / 30.6717917; -104.0220083


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