 The Otto Struve Telescope | |
| Alternative names | 2.1m-Otto Struve Telescope |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | Jeff Davis County,Texas |
| Coordinates | 30°40′47″N104°01′29″W / 30.679709°N 104.024823°W /30.679709; -104.024823 |
| Discovered | Nereid |
| Diameter | 82 in (2.1 m) |
| Website | mcdonaldobservatory |
  Location of Otto Struve Telescope | |
 Related media on Commons | |
TheOtto Struve Telescope was the first majortelescope to be built atMcDonald Observatory. Located in theDavis Mountains in WestTexas, the Otto Struve Telescope was designed byWarner & Swasey Company and constructed between 1933 and 1939 by thePaterson-Leitch Company. Its 82-inch (2.1 m) mirror was the second largest in the world at the time.[note 1] It was named after the Ukrainian-American astronomer of Baltic German originOtto Struve in 1966, three years after his death; Struve had been the director of McDonald Observatory from 1932–1950.
The Davis Mountains is an excellent location for astronomical research because of the clear dry air and moderately high elevation. The remote nature of the facility proved to be a significant challenge in transporting such a large mirror. It was a very precarious journey for the Otto Struve Telescope's mirror to this remote part of Texas and up to the top ofMount Locke. The mirror was transported from the local town ofFort Davis up the mountain byCarleton D. Wilson, owner of a local trucking company, while locals cheered as they looked on.[1]
The Otto Struve telescope is still in use today. It is updated with modern imaging detectors allowing astronomers to conduct many types of research.
The telescope was one of two used to set up and define theJohnson-MorganUBV photometric system.
In 1949,G. Kuiper of Yerkes Observatory discovered a new moon of planetNeptune, namedNereid.[2] The moon was discovered onphotographic plates taken in a search for moons of Neptune.[2]
The Otto Struve telescope saw first light in 1939, behind the 100-inch Hooker telescope and ahead of two largeBritish Commonwealth telescopes, both in Canada. Many competing projects were delayed due to the war in the early 1940s.
Four largest telescopes in 1939:
| # | Name / observatory | Image | Aperture | Altitude | First light | Special advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hooker Telescope Mount Wilson Obs. |  | 100 inch 254 cm | 1742 m (5715 ft) | 1917 | George Ellery Hale Andrew Carnegie |
| 2 | Otto Struve Telescope McDonald Obs. | | 82 inch 208 cm | 2070 m (6791 ft) | 1939 | Otto Struve |
| 3 | David Dunlap Observatory |  | 74 inch 188 cm | 224 m (735 ft) | 1935 | Clarence Chant |
| 4 | Plaskett telescope Dominion Astrophysical Obs. |  | 72 inch 182 cm | 230 m (755 ft) | 1918 | John S. Plaskett |