71.1284 42.3815 refractor pforzheimer mostafavi hempton winlock herbaria schepens hco gaposchkin boathouse lavietes cranch upperclass tatti widener beanpot shorenstein dunster complutense refracting drout leavitt leverett dava artemas pusey bulletins nieman
1850 harvard observatory takes 1st photograph of a star (vega)
Harvard College Observatory - wikipedia Harvard College Observatory Harvard College Observatory <Td_colspan="2"> Harvard College Observatory , circa 1899 Organization Harvard University Observatory code 802 Location Cambridge , Massachusetts , US Coordinates 42 ° 22 ′ 53 '' N 71 ° 07 ′ 42 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 42.3815 ° N 71.1284 ° W ﻿ / 42.3815 ; - 71.1284 Coordinates : 42 ° 22 ′ 53 '' N 71 ° 07 ′ 42 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 42.3815 ° N 71.1284 ° W ﻿ / 42.3815 ; - 71.1284 Altitude 24 m ( 79 ft ) Established 1839 Website www.cfa.harvard.edu/hco Telescopes Harvard Great Refractor <Td_colspan="2"> Location of Harvard College Observatory <Td_colspan="2"> Related media on Wikimedia Commons <Td_colspan="2"> ( edit on Wikidata ) The Harvard College Observatory ( HCO ) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy . It is located in Cambridge , Massachusetts , USA , and was founded in 1839 . With the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , it forms part of the Harvard -- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics . HCO houses a collection of approximately 500,000 astronomical plates taken between the mid-1880s and 1989 ( with a gap from 1953 -- 68 ) . This 100 - year coverage is a unique resource for studying temporal variations in the universe . The Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard project is digitally scanning and archiving these photographic plates . Contents 1 History 2 Publications 3 Directors 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links History ( edit ) Sketch of Harvard 's Great Refractor telescope In 1839 , the Harvard Corporation voted to appoint William Cranch Bond , a prominent Boston clockmaker , as `` Astronomical Observer to the University '' ( at no salary ) . This marked the founding of the Harvard College Observatory . HCO 's first telescope , the 15 - inch Great Refractor , was installed in 1847 . That telescope was the largest in the United States from installation until 1867 . Between 1847 and 1852 Bond and pioneer photographer John Adams Whipple used the Great Refractor telescope to produce images of the moon that are remarkable in their clarity of detail and aesthetic power . This was the largest telescope in North America at that time , and their images of the moon took the prize for technical excellence in photography at the 1851 Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London . On the night of July 16 -- 17 , 1850 , Whipple and Bond made the first daguerreotype of a star ( Vega ) . Harvard College Observatory is historically important to astronomy , as many women including Annie Jump Cannon , Henrietta Swan Leavitt , Cecilia Payne - Gaposchkin , and Williamina Fleming performed pivotal stellar classification research . Cannon and Leavitt were hired initially as `` computers '' to perform calculations and examine stellar photographs , but later made insightful connections in their research . Publications ( edit ) From 1898 to 1926 , a series of Bulletins were issued containing many of the major discoveries of the period . These were then replaced by Announcement Cards which continued to be issued until 1952 . In 1908 , the observatory published the Harvard Revised Photometry Catalogue , which gave rise to the HR star catalogue , now maintained by the Yale University Observatory as the Bright Star Catalogue . Directors ( edit ) William Cranch Bond 1839 -- 1859 George Phillips Bond 1859 -- 1865 Joseph Winlock 1866 -- 1875 Edward Charles Pickering 1877 -- 1919 Solon Irving Bailey 1919 -- 1921 ( Acting Director ) Harlow Shapley 1921 -- 1952 Donald H. Menzel 1952 -- 1953 ( Acting Director ) ; 1954 -- 1966 ( Director ) Leo Goldberg 1966 -- 1970 George B. Field 1971 -- 1972 See also ( edit ) Harvard Computers Sears Tower -- Harvard Observatory The Minor Planet Center credits many asteroid discoveries to `` Harvard Observatory . '' See List of largest optical refracting telescopes , for other ' great refractors ' References ( edit ) Jump up ^ `` HCO Astronomical Plate Stacks '' . Retrieved 2008 - 11 - 25 . Jump up ^ `` Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard ( DASCH ) '' . Retrieved 2014 - 07 - 14 . Jump up ^ `` The Great Refractor '' . Retrieved 2008 - 11 - 25 . Jump up ^ Drout , Maria ( 12 November 2012 ) . `` A Big Step Backward for Time Domain Astronomy '' . Astrobites . Retrieved 16 December 2014 . Jump up ^ `` Reaching for the Stars '' . Archived from the original on 2008 - 05 - 17 . Retrieved 2008 - 11 - 25 . Further reading ( edit ) Dava Sobel ( 2016 ) . The Glass Universe : How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars . Viking . ISBN 978 - 0670016952 . External links ( edit ) Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harvard College Observatory . Wikisource has the text of the 1921 Collier 's Encyclopedia article Harvard Observatory . HCO home page Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Harvard College Observatory Bulletins Harvard College Announcement Cards <Th_colspan="3"> Harvard University History John Harvard statue President Drew Gilpin Faust Board of Overseers President and Fellows of Harvard College Provost Alan M. Garber The Harvard Library Arts and Sciences Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. 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Commencement traditions Academic regalia Heraldry Tercentenary celebration Harvard University Professor Harvard Magazine Harvard Gazette Harvard University Press Society of Fellows Lionel de Jersey Harvard Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harvard_College_Observatory&oldid=839248087 '' Categories : Harvard University Buildings and structures in Cambridge , Massachusetts Astronomical observatories in Massachusetts Astronomy institutes and departments Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Hidden categories : Coordinates on Wikidata Articles using Infobox observatory using locally defined parameters Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikisource বাংলা Беларуская Català Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto فارسی Français 한국어 Հայերեն Italiano עברית Lëtzebuergesch मराठी Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Polski Português Русский Українська 中文 16 more Edit links This page was last edited on 2 May 2018 , at 07 : 03 ( UTC ) . About Wikipedia