Swasey Observatory

Perched on a hilltop on the campus of Denison University in Granville, Ohio is a beautiful example of a modest academic observatory from the turn of the twentieth century. Swasey Observatory was, in 1909, the gift of Ambrose Swasey of the Warner and Swasey Company. Built of white Vermont marble, the structure boasts a lovely tiled entry chamber, classrooms (one a former transit/zenith observatory), and a metal spiral stairway leading up to the observing dome. The transit telescope has been uninstalled and its pier removed but is still on display. Several astronomical timepieces are also present though not operating. Under the dome (a modern replacement for the original wood-and-steel structure) is a beautiful nine-inch Warner and Swasey 1910 refracting telescope with Brashier optical components. The drive system has been updated to run via electrical motor but most of the instrument is original equipment. The old telescope is used in astronomy instruction and the building has an observing deck where modern small telescopes may be attached to permanent piers. Dan and Mike, professors of physics at Denison, were most generous with their time answering several questions I had concerning the old telescope (nearly a twin to the one I maintain) and allowing me plenty of time to photograph. It was a fine way to spend a dreary Friday. Making this blog entry is about as close to observing as I will get on this cloudy and rainy Saturday night when I would otherwise present a public observing session at Hiram.

Photo by James Guilford.

19th and 2st Centuries meet

I went to Stephens Observatory and was able to use the 2-inch adapter to mount my Canon Digital Rebel XT camera to the century-old Warner and Swasey telescope with its 9-inch Brashear objective. All of the photos are a bit softer than I'd like but not surprising but two were fairly good. Quality suffered in part because of trees surrounding the site, the photos were all made in bright twilight. And the atmosphere was unsteady. I was at the limit of inward motion on the eyepiece holder so I couldn't experiment with focus. Still, this first success pleases me and I can hardly wait to try again under better conditions! Moon images were all made between about 8:40 and 8:45 PM when Luna moved behind high trees to the south-southwest of the dome. Didn't try Jupiter because it just didn't look good enough -- details barely distinguishable by eye. I did learn, however, that placing a neutral density filter at the eyepiece improved the quality of Jupiter's appearance to the point where, instead of a brilliant blank disk, I could visually make out the two major cloud bands. I took a long break and then went into my continuing efforts to learn aiming the telescope by celestial coordinates. I believe I succeeded in finding M22 by this method but had trouble with other objects. So there is a lot of work remaining. Spotted M9 with binoculars though dim objects were hard to spot this night. Saw one fast-moving satellite in the telescope's field of view. Surprising and delightful was seeing the Milky Way span the sky nearly overhead -- a wonderful way to end the evening (really the night) at about midnight. Came home and had to view my photographic efforts and that kept me up til about 2:00 AM. My favorite image is seen here. There's chromic aberration at the edge of the lunar disk but it isn't bad considering the optics of this 9-inch achromatic doublet are 107 or so years old -- uncoated and no filters! I sent a copy of this photo to a local newspaper to see if they'll use it and give us a bit of added publicity.