From Stonehenge to Keck Architecture and Astronomy C

From Stonehenge to Keck: Architecture and Astronomy C. G. De Pree RARE CATS Green Bank, WV June 2002

Questions Why have societies observed the heavens since ancient times? n What sort of structures have been associated with observing the sky? n How have these structures changed with time? n

Overview Ancient Observatories n 16 th and 17 th Century Observatories n Early Modern (19 th century) Observatories n Modern Observatories n

Ancient Observatories Stonehenge/Newgrange n Chichen Itza, Caracol Tower n Locations n – Horizon line n Uses – Religious – Timekeeping – Ceremonial

Newgrange (3200 BCE) Aligned to winter solstice (light interior) n One of thousands of sites in Europe n – Stonehenge

Caracol (Snail) Tower Location: Chichen Itza, Northern Yucatan n Period: Mayan, c. 1000 AD n Interior: 16. 7 m-diameter tower with spiral staircase and four doorways aligned with cardinal directions n Upper room: 7 openings aligned with the equinoxes and the S transit of Venus n

Caracol Tower at Chichen Itza

Caracol Tower Astronomical function: solstice and equinox alignments, some star alignments n Religious function: apparent alignments with Venus n – Mayan tablets mention the rising of Venus – Worship of the wind god Ehecatl

16 th to 18 th Century Observatories Uraniborg/Stjarneborg (Tycho Brahe) n L’Observatoire de Paris n – Louis XIV n Royal Greenwich Observatory – Flamsteed, Astronomer Royal

Uraniborg Castle Location: Island of Hven n Date: 1576 -1580 (pre-telescope) n Complex included: castle, observatory, papermill, earthworks, dams and ponds n Subsidized by Danish State (~1% of national budget) n Purpose: determine accurate planetary positions n

Uraniborg: Grounds and Interior Castle too small n Mounts unstable n

Stjarneborg Observatory Funded by Danish king Frederick II n Lost funding under Christian IV (1596) n Brahe came under patronage of the German emperor Rudolf II n Relocated to Observatory near Prague (1599) n

Paris Observatory Louis XIV funds `l'Observatoire Royal’ n Architect: Claude Perrault (ded. 1672) n Oriented with the cardinal points of the compass (in 1667) n Paris latitude: Latitude of the south face n n Paris longitude: Meridian line passing through building center

Paris Observatory--Planned Uses Offices for astronomers/academics n Lecture hall and laboratories n n Instruments dedicated to the astronomical observations

Old Greenwich Royal Observatory Location: Greenwich, England n Founded: 22 June, 1675 by King Charles II n Primary purpose: To solve the problem of finding longitude n John Flamsteed, Astronomer Royal n n Observatory added functions over time

17 -18 th Century Interiors Observing/Reception Room Flamsteed Apartment

Meridian Building Houses a ten-foot transit instrument, installed in 1816 n Bradley's original transit instrument is shown n

Airy Transit Circle Sir George Biddell Airy (7 th Astronomer Royal) designed a transit instrument, installed in 1850 n Transit circle: special type of telescope moves in a vertical circle n Transit circles used to accurately measure stellar positions n

Altazimuth Pavilion n The Altazimuth Pavilion (1899) n Named after the altaz telescope originally installed in its dome n Dome now contains a 'photoheliograph’ (solar projection) n Weather vane over the dome represents Halley's Comet as seen in the Bayeux tapestry

The South Building Originally called the New Physical Building (1899) n Astronomer Royal, William Christie (architect William Crisp) n 4 wings housed branches: magnetic and meteorological, astro-photography, time, and library n The dome originally accommodated a 30 -inch (76. 2 cm) reflecting telescope n

Jantar Mantar: five observatories built by Sawai Jai Singh II n Locations: New Delhi, Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura. n Built AD 1724– 1730 n

Samrat Yantra (Gnomon) Gnomon 90 feet high, points toward Polaris n Used to find time and declination and hour angle of stars and planets n Either side of the gnomon is a masonry quadrant n – to read time – steps provided

Early Modern Observatories (19 th C) More remote locations (outside cities) n Still show integration of observing structure, teaching space and research space n e. g. Yerkes Observatory, University of Chicago (1897) n

Yerkes Architect: Henry Ives Cobb n Funded: Charles Yerkes (Chicago streetcars) n Astronmer: George Ellery Hale (U. Chicago) n Exterior: Animals, signs of the Zodiac, phases of the Moon n Architecture and technology of late 19 th century, 77 -acre site n

1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago/Installation

Yerkes: 40 in Refractor

Yerkes: Architectural Detail

Modern Observatories n Separation between observing structure and office/research structure – Mt Wilson Telescopes/Cal Tech – Keck I and Keck II/Waimea headquarters/Cal Tech – Very Large Array/Array Operations Center/NRAO – HST/NGST/NASA/STSc. I

Palomar Observatory George Ellery Hale (Yerkes) n Grants from Carnegie Institution of Washington n Mount Wilson 60 -inch reflector first completed (1908) n Harlow Shapley measures the size of the MW and our position in it n n 1928, $6 million grant from Rockefeller

n Mt. Wilson 100 -in & 200 -in telescopes

Keck Headquarters n Located in Waimea n Telescopes are 48 miles from HQ n Most employees work at headquarters n 20 -25 technicians and engineers commute daily to summit n Annual budget $11 million

Keck Telescope

Keck Control Room

Very Large Array

VLA (view looking South)

Orbiting Observatories Hubble Space Telescope (HST) n Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) n Space Telescope Science Institute (STSc. I) n

Reflections Astronomical architecture has evolved along with astronomical technology n Telescopes and the structures that house them are becoming more and more remote from most people n From earliest times, there alignments with cardinal points n Growing separation between instruments and observers n