Baker-Nunn camera model
Date: circa 1958
Inventory Number: 2006-1-0110
Classification: Model
Subject:
Maker: Cambridge Pattern Works (founded 1936)
Owner: Smithsonian Institution (1836-present)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
54 x 59 x 30 cm (21 1/4 x 23 1/4 x 11 13/16 in.)
Description:
Wooden model of the Baker-Nunn camera painted green, yellow, and silver. A camera-like object mounted on a set of three moving axes allowing it to point in any direction.
Signedon base: Model by Cambridge Pattern Works / Cambridge, Mass.
plaque on model: Smithsonian Institution / 51697.
plaque on model: Smithsonian Institution / 51697.
FunctionThis is a model that illustrates the mechanical system that allowed the Baker-Nunn camera to point towards any direction in the sky. The camera itself was developed in the 1950s for tracking man-made objects in space, and kept being used for that purpose until the 1980s. It could track rapidly moving targets while simultaneously viewing large sections of the sky.
Two of its developers, James Gilbert Baker and Joseph Nunn, worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory in Cambridge, MA. where many of these cameras operated from the late 1950s to the 1980s.
For more on the Baker-Nunn camera, look at related information on NASA's history webpage here.
Two of its developers, James Gilbert Baker and Joseph Nunn, worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory in Cambridge, MA. where many of these cameras operated from the late 1950s to the 1980s.
For more on the Baker-Nunn camera, look at related information on NASA's history webpage here.