The McCormick Observatory is undergoing restorations that will make it appear more as it did in 1885, when the observatory was first dedicated as a fulfillment of Thomas Jefferson's design for the University. An event yesterday marking the observatory's 125th anniversary honored its history and significance to the University.
"The telescope is as functional as or better than it was in 1885, and it still operates as an antique telescope," Assoc. Astronomy Prof. Edward Murphy said. "It is not computer-controlled, so you have to move the telescope by hand."
The restoration will entail repainting the dome to its original white color after a century of being silver, replacing the observatory's linoleum floors with wood floors and fitting out its interior with its original plaster walls, Murphy said.
There is not yet a time frame for the project's completion, and the observatory will remain open during the course of the restoration.
"We're just doing it as it goes along," Murphy said.
The restorations come just as the observatory is celebrating the 125th anniversary of its dedication with a gathering of astronomy department employees, supporters of Friends of McCormick Observatory and other individuals involved in the project.
The gathering, which Murphy called "informal," allowed those in attendance to see the facility and learn about the telescope's history, Murphy said.
The McCormick Observatory was named for Leander McCormick, who donated the money to build the facility. At the time it was constructed, it was the largest telescope in the United States, Patterson said.
"It was also a very large endeavor for any university in the South to undertake so soon after the Civil War, and the donors were eager to help revive the fortunes of the University and Virginia after the devastation of the war," he said.
The observatory was used primarily for astrometry, a field which focuses on measuring the precise distances to stars and other celestial bodies.
"The most significant work carried out at the observatory was measuring the distances to stars through the method of trigonometric parallax," Patterson said. "McCormick Observatory measured the distance to one third of all stars with known distances by 1990. Knowing the distance to the stars is the first step in understanding the physics inside stars, as well as the distances to everything else in the universe."
Because of light pollution from the surrounding buildings and the construction of newer, more sophisticated facilities, research is no longer conducted at the observatory, but it is still used as a teaching tool for the University's astronomy students. The primary local research observatory is now Fan Mountain Observatory, which opened in the mid-1960s.
The observatory invites visitors for viewings of the night sky on the first and third Fridays of each month.
"It's interesting for students at U.Va. to know a bit about the history of the observatory," Murphy said. "It was one of the best telescopes in the world from 1914 until the early 1990s"
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