The 23 Inch Clark Refractor

This is a very famous telescope, the 23 inch Clark refractor that began its life at Princeton University in 1882. The lens was made in 1882 by Alvan Clark & Sons, and then the telescope and mount were completely rebuilt by the Fecker Company in 1932, keeping the same lens, and was in use at Princeton until 1964. It has been used by such famous astronomers as Henry Norris Russell, Harlow Shapley, and Dr. Lyman Spitzer. Later it was aquired by the US Navy and then arrived here at the Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville, South Carolina. It was restored by volunteers in 1985, and then installed in a brand new observatory exactly 20 years ago, in 1987. The telescope tube is about 30 feet long, and its tube and mount weigh about 46,000 pounds. The Antique Telescope Society is meeting here this weekend, and I got to look through this beautiful instrument at the Moon and Jupiter, and at the Ring Nebula, and at the globular cluster M-15. This time-exposure shows the telescope and dome bathed in red light during the observing session. You may be able to see stars out through the open shutter of the dome.