LEWISBURG — In the universe, there is a time for all things — the birth of stars, the death of stars, and an infinity of other molecular tangos that build galaxies, worlds, eco-systems, institutions and human beings.
And then those tangos tear them apart again.
Family Weekend gives Bucknell University the time to show off what it has built, the least of which is not the refurbished, black and brass 10-inch Clark refracting telescope that it has had in its observatory for 122 years. But this year it shines like it did in 1887, when it was first installed in the new observatory dedicated by William Bucknell himself.
An open house will be held from 8 to 11 tonight at the observatory. Weather permitting, the moon, stars and Jupiter may be visible through the now computer-controlled telescope. There will be tours of the facility and a lecture on the cyclical life of the galaxy.
In the world of telescopes, the name Clark is a stand-out. Alvan Clark & Sons, of Cambridgeport, Mass., were master opticians who ground lenses for some of the finest telescopes built in the latter half of the 18th century, including five that stood as the largest in the world for a time. Their 40-inch lens at the University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisc., still holds the record as the largest refracting telescope used for scientific research.
Bucknell’s 10-inch Clark is an antique and no longer used for research, “but it still produces fantastic images,” said Ned Ladd, associate professor of physics. And it is a thing of beauty in itself.
In 1887, it was the star of the new observatory. Mr. Bucknell gave $10,000 for the building and the same day the university’s trustees made astronomy a required subject for all students.
That requirement has been dropped, but William Bucknell thought highly enough of the subject to leave these words:
“… It will be to the students the means of enlarging their ideas … of lifting their thoughts from the finite creature to the infinite Creator; of ennobling their minds, taking from them the narrow ideas of this worldly existence.”
In that spirit, Ladd will lecture at 8 p.m. and again at 10 p.m., on what he calls galactic ecology.
Just like in the biological realm, where there is a life cycle, Ladd said, in the galactic sphere, stars are born, live lives, enormous by the human scale, and do die.
“Then they blow their guts back out and the stuff they spew becomes the raw material for the next generation of stars,” Ladd said.
“It’s all about how we got here, how the universe works, the big questions,” he said.
If Clark had a time machine, and could see his instrument today, he might smile at its new computerized control.
Despite being cleaned and realigned, the 14-foot-long instrument’s optics can still only magnify objects 300 times. While that capability has been surpassed by newer devices, it’s still quite impressive. But, in the past, it would show you something only if you knew where to point it.
As Ladd said on the Bucknell Web site in August:
“There was a little switch, you’d turn it on and the telescope would track slowly across the sky at a predetermined rate. If you wanted to point at a particular object, you would release some clutches, literally yank it around and point it at the object.
“We decided what we wanted were accurate drives, so we spent time reworking the drive motors and that involved some pretty detailed engineering.
“We also decided wanted to have this telescope under computer control so that we could point pretty much anywhere we want with a couple keystrokes. Now, with a little touch screen, you can type in where you’d like to go in the sky. It’ll slew to that position, settle down and begin to track.”
The computerization has made it easier for students to use the telescope, Ladd said.
And it no longer shows its age. In the cosmetic restoration process the instrument was completely disassembled, pieces refinished or repainted, and reassembled.
“The telescope really looks nice now,” Ladd said. “It’s just a gorgeous scientific instrument.”
n E-mail comments to dianepetryk@dailyitem.com
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Bucknell families to keep eye on 1887 telescope tonight
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