Yale-Columbia Refractor
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| The 26-inch at Mason Lab, Yale University, in 1924 | At the Yale Southern Station in Johannesburg. |
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| Destroyed, at Mount Stromlo Observatory, after fire of January 18, 2003. |
In 1925, Frank
Schlesinger at Yale
University, who has been described as "the father of modern
astrometry" in part for his role in perfecting the photographic methods
of parallax determination at Yerkes
Observatory, established a Southern Station of the Yale Observatory
at Johannesburg, South Africa. A 26-inch long-focus refractor (lens made by J. B. McDowell of Pittsburgh, John A. Brashear's son-in-law, and the mounting made in the Yale shops, in a project involving R. W. Sellew) was
erected at this site for the determination of parallaxes of southern
stars (it was the largest refractor in the southern hemisphere when
first installed, and only ¼-inch smaller than the
McCormick
refractor). Harold Alden served as director
from 1925-1945, before returning to McCormick Observatory to serve as
director there. Nearly 70,000 plates were taken with this telescope,
which was moved to Mt. Stromlo
Observatory, outside Canberra, Australia, in 1952, and used by Yale and Columbia Universities until the mid-1960's.
Beginning in 1977, this telescope was used by Phil Ianna and collaborators to extend the
McCormick Observatory's parallax program to the Southern Hemisphere. The
observing program ended on the Yale-Columbia Refractor in 1992, when efforts
were redirected to using a CCD (an electronic detector) on a 40-inch reflecting
telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, located outside of Coonabarabran,
Australia (from 1989-2002).
The Yale-Colombia was destroyed by bushfire on
January 18, 2003, along with the other major telescopes at Mount Stromlo.
Adapted from the Yale Astronomy Department History webpage.
