In addition to Ham Radio, I also am interested in astronomy. If you look me up on QRZ.com you will see that I live on Observatory Road. Our road has this name because there is a real observatory on the road. The observatory was constructed in 1937 by Dr. Goethe Link an Indianapolis surgeon and avid amateur astronomer. The telescope was constructed from a 36″ mirror blank built by Corning Glass as a test blank for the 200″ Mount Palomar telescope (http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/).
Goethe Link Telescope
Martinsville, Indiana
The Link Observatory is owned by Indiana University but is cared for by the Indianapolis Astronomical Society.
This summer my wife and I had the unique opportunity to be trained as operators for this telescope. The German Equitorial mount used on the Link telescope is remarkably similar to the mount used on the Palomar telescope.
Link Telescope German Equatorial Mount
Operating the scope is a lot of fun and a very interesting experience. It can be very disorienting looking up through the dome as it is being rotated to a new location. One of the most exciting observations we made during our training was to see Pluto.
The telescope is no longer used for research because the local light pollution has limited its usefulness for research. However, it is still a wonderful telescope for observational astronomy. The telescope is now receiving new life as the Link Observatory Space Science Center.
Laura and I have had several opportunities to operate the telescope for public outreach programs and for groups of astronomy students from Indiana University. It is really an amazing machine.
73,
Fred