Otto Struve Telescope

Otto Struve Telescope

The Otto Struve Telescope
Alternative names	2.1m-Otto Struve Telescope
Part of	McDonald Observatory
Location(s)	Jeff Davis County, Texas
Coordinates	30°40′47″N 104°01′29″W / 30.679709°N 104.024823°W / 30.679709; -104.024823
Built	1933–1939 (1933–1939)
Discovered	Nereid
Telescope style	optical telescope
Diameter	82 in (2.1 m)
Website	mcdonaldobservatory.org/research/telescopes/Struve
Location of Otto Struve Telescope
Related media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The Otto Struve Telescope was the first major telescope to be built at McDonald Observatory. Located in the Davis Mountains in West Texas, the Otto Struve Telescope was designed by Warner & Swasey Company and constructed between 1933 and 1939 by the Paterson-Leitch Company. Its 82-inch (2.1 m) mirror was the second largest in the world at the time.^{[note 1]} It was named after the Russian-American astronomer Otto Struve in 1966, three years after his death; Struve had been the director of McDonald Observatory from 1932–1950.

The Davis Mountains is an excellent location for astronomical research because of the clear dry air and moderately high elevation. The remote nature of the facility proved to be a significant challenge in transporting such a large mirror. It was a very precarious journey for the Otto Struve Telescope's mirror to this remote part of Texas and up to the top of Mount Locke. The mirror was transported from the local town of Fort Davis up the mountain by Carleton D. Wilson, owner of a local trucking company, while locals cheered as they looked on.^[1]

The Otto Struve telescope is still in use today. It is updated with modern imaging detectors allowing astronomers to conduct many types of research.

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).