Alleghany Observatory tour

[mwayne]

Four of us were in the Pittsburgh area for witness testing of some electrical equipment and we had spare time Thursday evening, which is when Allegheny Observatory has tours.

http://www.pitt.edu/~aobsvtry/index.html

The first two photos show the Thaw refractor, notice that between the two photos the floor had been raised  as a demonstration. The last photo is me standing next to a statue of John Brashear, the head optician at the observatory. It would've been fascinating tour even had the clouds held up but, towards the end of the tour the clouds parted and we were able to look at Jupiter through the Fitz-Clark refractor. If you're ever in the area be sure to go!
 

[Joel Shepherd]

Grew up there, never saw it: three decades later and I guess there's a reason to go back.   Thanks for posting!

[jambouk]

Great stuff. Another fascinating looking place to visit. Everything is so big; even the "finder" scope looks to be over 8 foot long!

James

 

[Grotemobile]

http://www.pitt.edu/~aobsvtry/thaw.html

Very interesting post. I see it houses 3 scopes.

[laudropb]

Very interesting post with lovely photos.