I had the opportunity to visit the Williams Observatory at Hood College, Frederick, MD - home of a beautiful 8" Clarke refractor! The astronomy professor there has graciously offered to open the observatory from 8:30pm to 9:30pm every clear Wednesday night thru December 8th, with the exception of Nov 24th. You can find more info here:
http://www.hood.edu/adminservices/news.cfm?featureID=2462.
I took a couple quick snaps that I'm posting here for your viewing pleasure. (If you appreciate old / vintage refractors, you'll love this one!)
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| Clarke 8" Refractor - Gorgeous! |
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| Me at the Business End (with Unitron Unihex EP Set ;-) |
Myself and Steve Berte, (both members of
TriStateAstronomers) had the opportunity to actually view thru this historic instrument. We saw Jupiter, the Moon (of course!) and the Ring Nebula. Views were quite impressive, as was manually moving the beast and the heavy dome. I was surprised to see a bit of false color in this F/14 scope, but in all likelyhood, it may have been from the Unitron Unihex, which was a bit loose and may have even had a slightly tilted prism. Regardless, the views were great and it was a thrill finally getting my hands (and eyes) on a legendary Clarke refractor. Great fun! Make sure you check it out!
Peace & blessings to all...
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