Browse Items (71 total)

Willis Pendulum Astrolabe
The Willis Pendulum Astrolabe was used primarily by the armed forces to determine latitudes and longitudes. The astrolabe is stored in a large green wooden box. It is marked “PENDULUM ASTROLABE David White Co. Milwaukee Wisc USA, No. 65649, M-5107,…

4-inch reflector Celestar
Metal, glass, wood

Celestar telescope with fork-type mounting and electric drive. Includes wood tripod, slow motion adjustment both axes, right ascension and declination setting circles and achromatic 30 mm finder scope. A chain links the three…

Conical log-spiral antenna
Wood, metal

Base is 8-inch in diameter and it is 19 ½ inches long.

Design of the array element was done by Professor John D. Dyson. Installed on the Vermilion River Radio Observatory's 400 x 600 foot cylindrical radio observatory, in operation…

Self winding clock
Wood, metal, glass

Purchased by the Astronomy Club in 1985 at an estate sale, the clock was missing the dial and door but still retained the wooden case, paper instructions, wires, hands, pendulum, and clock mechanism. In 2011, Dr. Bruce Hannon…

Tags:

Vermillon Radio Observatory
Post text: "Radio telescope at the Vermilion River Observatory, University of Illinois. Giant radio telescope 600 feet long, 400 feet wide. A wire mesh on the surface reflects cosmic signals to 274 antennas on the wooden truss, 153 feet high. It is…

Hough observing chair
Wood, metal

Wooden frame with moveable seat and eight steps on four castors. Measures 45” x 48” x 103” tall. Moving adjustable chair with foot-rest connected to counter weights slides up and down in the middle of the stairs with in a wooden track.…

Tags:

30-inch Mellish mirror
Wood, metal, glass

Frustrated by the selenium cell photometer's lack of sensivity, Joel Stebbins purchased a large 30-inch reflector in 1912. The original telescope was purchased from C.W. Draper, $1500, #573, July 26 1912. It has previously been…

Tags:

photometer2.jpg
Lantern slide of the photoelectric photometer around 1925. From the Observatory's lantern slide collection, marked "PE 2." Robert Baker continued Stebbin's photometry work when he arrived at Illinois in 1923. He continued to use the 12-inch…

Tags:

photometer1.jpg
Photograph of the photoelectric cell photometer attached to the 12-inch refractor. The photograph dates to about 1913-1915. During the summer of 1915, Dr. Stebbins took this photometer to Lick Observatory to study the variable star Beta Lyrae.…

Tags:

photocell.jpg
Lantern slide of a photoelectric cell made by Jacob Kunz. Part of the Observatory's lantern slide collection, marked "PE 5."

Tags:

Output Formats

atom, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2