Wilder Observatory

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Wilder Observatory
Organization Amherst College
Location Amherst, Massachusetts (USA)
Coordinates 42°21′56.7″N, 72°31′27″W
Altitude meters (feet)
Webpage [1]
Telescopes
Unnamed Telescope 18" Alvin Clark and Sons refractor
Wilder Observatory in 2003.
Wilder Observatory in 2003.

Wilder Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Amherst College. It is located in a 5,300 square foot building off Snell Street in Amherst, Massachusetts (USA).

When the Wilder Observatory was built in 1903 it was one of the largest telescopes in the world at 18 inches, and it remains one of the largest refractors. Built by Alvan Clark & Sons, the world's greatest telescope makers, the instrument was shipped to Chile in the summer of 1907 to observe the planet Mars, then returned.

The observatory building itself is unheated.

[edit] See also

[edit] External Links

View of Wilder Observatory from 1913

[edit] Reference

  1. Wilder Observatory Homepage. Amherst Astronomy Association: Observatory Observing. Retrieved on December 14, 2005.
  2. 2006 Amherst College Family Weekend program. Retrieved on November 17, 2006.
  3. Amherst Celebrates its "New" 96-Year-Old Observatory June 1. Retrieved on November 17, 2006.


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