The Hartung–Boothroyd Observatory (HBO) is located atop
Mount Pleasant near the
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
(US). It is used mainly as a teaching facility for upper-level undergraduate
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
classes. The
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
is named to recognize funding from
M. John Hartung, a 1908 Cornell graduate and later chemical industrialist, and to honor
Samuel L. Boothroyd, the founder of Cornell's Department of Astronomy. The facility was designed and directed from 1974 to 2012 by
James R. Houck
James Richard Houck (October 5, 1940 – September 18, 2015) was the Kenneth A. Wallace Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University.
Houck pioneered infrared observational astronomy, designing detectors and spectrographs that were flown on sound ...
.
The primary 0.6m mirror was constructed from a Pyrex 1/8-scale test pouring as part of technology development for the
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...
200-inch telescope. The mirror was polished and mounted in a lightweight tube in the late 1930s under Boothroyd's direction, but World War II deferred its planned use in a high-altitude observatory. This facility, together with an equatorial fork mount to hold the previously completed telescope, was completed in 1974.
Nearby observatories
*
Clinton B. Ford Observatory,
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...
*
Fuertes Observatory
Fuertes Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the North Campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The observatory was designed by L.P. Burnham, Cornell Professor of Architecture and completed in fall of 1917. It was orig ...
,
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
*
Kopernik Space Education Center
See also
*
List of observatories
This is a list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in ...
References
External links
Hartung-Boothroyd Observatory
Astronomical observatories in New York (state)
Cornell University buildings
1974 establishments in New York (state)
{{US-observatory-stub