GETTYSBURG CLLEGE                             OBSERVATRY

  Home of Undergraduate Astronomical Research 
       At Gettysburg College 

        Longitude:  77o 14' 26"  W.   Latitude: 39o 50' 25" N
        Minor Planet Center Observatory Code: 842

        email: marschal@gettysburg.edu

        telephone: 717-337-6029
        astro hotline: 717-337-6031
Sky Clock

 

 

 

 

 CLEAR SKY CLOCK

Facilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Gettysburg College Observatory houses a 16-inch f/11 Ealing Cassegrain reflector, computer controlled, which is run from an adjacent warm room. The telescope drive and observatory control system, built by Astronomical Consultants and Equipment(ACE) of Tucson, Arizona, in 1996, provides full computer control of the dome, telescope, and filter box. 

Equipment includes a photometrics thermoelectrically cooled CH350 CCD camera with a back-illuminated SITE 003B  1024 x 1024 chip (which replaced a front-illuminated Thompson 7896 we had from 1993-June 2001) , and a computerized photoelectric photometer (not much used nowadays). The observatory is used for imaging and for photometry of variable stars. In addition, the observatory houses six Meade telescopes: three 8-inch LX200 - Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, one 10-inch GPS LX200 telescope, one 8-inch GPS LX200 telescope and one7-inch Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. They are equipped with small CCD cameras (ST6, ST-7 and Lynxx-PC) and are used on an adjacent concrete pier. Individual observing carts that contain dedicated pc's are used at each observing station. 

Building

 

 

 

 

 

                    
Radio Telescope
     		Our Gettysburg College Observatory is also home to a new 3.1 meter Haystack Small Radio Telescope (SRT).  Click here for more information! 
The observatory building is located at the northwest edge of the Gettysburg College campus, just below Seminary Ridge, part of the Gettysburg Battlefield.
    
Domecam Click here to see a live domecam view of the telescope (Password required).
Warmroom cam Click here to see a live warmroom cam view of the control room (Password required).
Warm Room Click here to see our control room.
ACE Control Click here to see our telescope and camera control system.

And Click Here to download a POWERPOINT TOUR of the Observatory
Images A Gallery of Images Taken with the Gettysburg College Observatory and at NURO
Photometry Light Curves
Astrometry Asteroid Images
IRAF How to Do IRAF Photometric Reductions at Gettysburg and at NURO
Operations
Manuals

 

 
Links

 

 A Page of Useful Links to Sites for Observers at Gettysburg College Observatory

  

      

“No person has to construct our picture of the universe single-handedly: science lets us accumulate the understanding of very fine brains of the past …cooperate and compete with other people today, and harness rapidly improving technology to sift vast haystacks of data….” - Robert P. Kirshner

"To be a scientist is, among other things, to be a reviewer, for without the review process science would have no greater claim to truth than any other way of knowing. While peer review does not ensure that science's grasp of reality will always be firm, it does at least serve as a sort of collective feedback mechanism, minimizing spasms of error or prejudice ... ." -Laurence A. Marschall

"The crux... is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be missing." 
                                                                                                  - William J. Broad