U.S. Naval Observatory // Credit: David J. Eicher
February continues to be beautiful in Arizona.
Astronomy Senior Editor Michael Bakich and I continued our tour of important astronomical institutions by swinging by the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff. There, astronomer Bob Zavala graciously played host to show us around the entire facility, beginning with the terrific 1.3-meter telescope, a workhorse on many astronomical projects. We then saw the largest and most famous instrument on the campus, the 61-inch Strand astrometric reflector, which is one of the most important telescopes in the world, particularly for positional astronomy. We concluded with seeing the offices and also taking a short drive to the 1-meter Ritchey-Chrétien scope built by George Ritchey himself, a historic and important scope.
This will also play into some material coming up in a future issue of the magazine.
From Flagstaff, it will be back to Tucson for full immersion into the meteorite world.
More soon!
For all images from the trip, visit the Online Reader Gallery.
For related blogs, see:
Visiting historic Lowell Observatory
A visit to the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology branch in Flagstaff