[HN Gopher] Yerkes Observatory: Restoring the World's Largest Re...
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       Yerkes Observatory: Restoring the World's Largest Refracting
       Telescope
        
       Author : ughitsaaron
       Score  : 21 points
       Date   : 2023-07-27 11:16 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.grainger.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.grainger.com)
        
       | mickdeek86 wrote:
       | Named for the great Chicago business scumbag, Charles Yerkes. Got
       | out of prison in Pennsylvania and hobbled together Chicago's L
       | train. The side of the street that he claimed the elevated
       | railway was on would change building by building, based on which
       | neighbors would or would not grant an easement. The folklore is
       | this complicated zoning in the loop until Daley the Younger's
       | mayoral tenure - in the 1980's
        
         | superkuh wrote:
         | That's a bit of a relief actually. Every time I read Yerkes I
         | think of the evil alien "Yeerks" from the animorphs scifi book
         | series. Now I know it's a fine match.
        
         | whatshisface wrote:
         | It's okay, it goes by so often you won't even notice it.
        
       | prpl wrote:
       | I've been fortunate to look through an eyepiece at Lick, it is
       | pretty amazing to look at Jupiter (+ moons) and parts of the moon
       | up close through such an instrument.
       | 
       | I wish the floor had still worked though.
        
       | AnimalMuppet wrote:
       | Interesting to see this show up on HN. My daughter and son-in-law
       | live within walking distance; my son-in-law's father used to work
       | there.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | There were concerns the observatory wouldn't live on after
         | University of Chicago's divestment of the property. Glad to see
         | it's got another chance at a long life.
         | 
         | https://yerkesobservatory.org/learn/governance/
         | 
         | https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-yerkes-obser...
        
       | AlbertCory wrote:
       | Is it, in fact, larger than Lick Observatory's? I looked through
       | that in 2003 or so.
       | 
       | > To her surprise, the telescope and its 60-foot-long metal tube
       | were still balanced enough that they could be moved with just her
       | hands. However, while the telescope was operational, it was
       | difficult and stiff to move. Over the first month, Dr. Bauer had
       | to determine whether the stiffness was due to a ground-down gear
       | and figure out all the places the telescope needed to be greased
       | and oiled.
       | 
       | I know Lick's can be moved by one person, by hand.
        
         | tesseract wrote:
         | The key dimension for refracting astronomical telescopes is the
         | diameter of the primary lens, which is 36 inches at Lick and 40
         | inches at Yerkes.
         | 
         | However, my understanding is that the Yerkes lens has suffered
         | cracks around its perimeter and the telescope has been stopped
         | down with baffles to mitigate the optical problems these cracks
         | would otherwise cause, such that presently the Lick telescope
         | has a larger clear aperture.
        
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       (page generated 2023-07-28 23:01 UTC)