National Air and Space Museum Opens a Public Observatory

September 30, 2009
News Release
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Galileo made the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope 400 years ago. To mark this anniversary and in conjunction with the International Year of Astronomy, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will open its Public Observatory this week.

The observatory contains a 16-inch, 3,000-pound Boller and Chivens telescope, on loan from the Harvard College Observatory, where it was previously used for research at Harvard’s Oak Ridge Observatory. Through the telescope, visitors will be able to view the sun (with a special filter), the moon and the brighter stars and planets, such as Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, during daylight hours. Funding for the project was provided by the National Washington Dulles International Airport. Both facilities are open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free, but there is a $15 fee for parking at the Udvar-Hazy CeScience Foundation.

The Public Observatory, on the museum’s East Terrace, will be open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., weather permitting. It will also be used for educational programs in combination with live presentations in the museum’s Einstein Planetarium.

“The National Air and Space Museum’s mission is to educate and inspire: People come to the museum to feel a personal connection with important artifacts,” said Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director of the museum. “Looking directly at the sun, moon, planets and stars with a telescope will enable visitors to experience this personal connection with the visible sky and the universe.”

A first edition of Galileo’s “Sidereus Nuncius,” provided by the Smithsonian Libraries Dibner Library, will be on special display in the museum’s Explore the Universe gallery for three months. Published in March 1610, “Sidereus Nuncius” (“Starry Messenger”) was the first scientific treatise based on observations made through a telescope. It contains the results of Galileo’s early observations of the moon, the stars and Jupiter’s moons.

The National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., near nter.

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SI-433A-2009