Currently indexing
Project Moonwatch satellite-tracking telescope
Date: circa 1957
Inventory Number: 2006-1-0119
Classification: Telescope
Subject:
Manufacturer: Tandy Corporation (founded 1919)
Owner: Fred L. Whipple (1906 - 2004)
Cultural Region:
City of Use:
Dimensions:
20.6 × 9.2 × 3.5 cm (8 1/8 × 3 5/8 × 1 3/8 in.)
Description:
The Moonwatch satellite-tracking telescope is a manufactured product by Micronta, Japan. At one end of the scope there is a panel that, once opened, reveals an oblique mirror at 45 degrees, which reflects the image of the sky into the telescope. The optical elements need cleaning.
The rubber eyecup has collapsed onto the eyepiece and hardened. (It is scheduled for removal by a conservator.)
The wooden base has an aluminum brace in order to angle the telescope for use by an observer who would look down into the eyepiece. For storage or transport, the telescope can be folded flat against the wood support.
The rubber eyecup has collapsed onto the eyepiece and hardened. (It is scheduled for removal by a conservator.)
The wooden base has an aluminum brace in order to angle the telescope for use by an observer who would look down into the eyepiece. For storage or transport, the telescope can be folded flat against the wood support.
In Collection(s)
Signedon instrument: MICRONTA / SATELLITE SCOPE / Magnification 6X / field of view 12° / NO. 763 / Made in Japan
Inscribedunder the stand, hand-written: Fred L. Whipple
Historical AttributesThe Moonwatch telescope was designed to be inexpensive and easy to get so that it reached as many people as possible.
Operation Moonwatch was established before the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957. Moonwatch was the brainchild of Harvard astronomer Fred L. Whipple. In 1955, as the recently appointed director of the SAO, Whipple proposed to establish a network of volunteer visual observers to track satellites expected to be launched by the US and Soviet Union as part of the IGY. Called "Moonwatch," it would eventually involve thousands of amateur astronomers around the world. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, SAO was one of the few agencies in the West ready to track the artificial satellite.
Operation Moonwatch was established before the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957. Moonwatch was the brainchild of Harvard astronomer Fred L. Whipple. In 1955, as the recently appointed director of the SAO, Whipple proposed to establish a network of volunteer visual observers to track satellites expected to be launched by the US and Soviet Union as part of the IGY. Called "Moonwatch," it would eventually involve thousands of amateur astronomers around the world. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, SAO was one of the few agencies in the West ready to track the artificial satellite.
Primary SourcesKenneth Auchincloss, "Smithsonian Astronomers Keep Hectic Pace," The Harvard Crimson, Saturday, November 09, 1957; republished online here.
Constance McLaughlin Green and Milton Lomask, Vanguard: A History (Washington, DC: NASA, 1969), chapter 6; available online here.
Constance McLaughlin Green and Milton Lomask, Vanguard: A History (Washington, DC: NASA, 1969), chapter 6; available online here.
ProvenanceFred Whipple, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA.