Harlan J. Smith Telescope

The Harlan J. Smith Telescope is a 107-inch (2.7 m) telescope located at the McDonald Observatory, in Texas, in the United States. This telescope is one of several research telescopes that are part of the University of Texas at Austin observatory perched on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of west Texas. The telescope was completed in 1968 with substantial NASA assistance, and is named after Harlan James Smith, the first Texas director of McDonald Observatory. Smith was the Observatory Director for 26 years.

Harlan J. Smith Telescope

Named after	Harlan James Smith
Part of	McDonald Observatory
Location(s)	Jeff Davis County, Texas
Coordinates	30°40′18″N 104°01′19″W
Telescope style	optical telescope
Diameter	107 in (2.7 m)
Website	mcdonaldobservatory.org/research/telescopes/HJSmith
Location of Harlan J. Smith Telescope
Related media on Wikimedia Commons

Dome at dusk

The 2.7-meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope of the McDonald Observatory (US) is used to point a laser beam to a reflector stationed on the surface of the moon.

Vandalism damage

The telescope was the victim of an act of vandalism in February 1970. A newly hired worker suffered a mental breakdown and brought a hand gun into the observatory. After firing one shot at his supervisor, the worker then fired the remaining rounds into the Primary Mirror. The holes effectively reduced the 107-inch (2.7 m) telescope to the equivalent of a 106-inch telescope (or about 2.5 centimeters less), but did not affect the quality of the telescope's images, only the amount of light it can collect.[1]

Observations

The telescope has been used to observe many things. Some achievements includes the stars BD +17° 3248 and XO-1.

Jorge Meléndez of the Australian National University and Iván Ramírez of the University of Texas discovered the star HIP 56948 in 2007 using the Harlan J. Smith telescope at McDonald Observatory.[2]

Contemporaries on commissioning

Four largest telescopes 1968:

#	Name / Observatory	Image	Aperture	Altitude	First Light	Special advocate
1	Hale Telescope Palomar Obs.		200 inch 508 cm	1713 m (5620 ft)	1949	Edwin Hubble
2	C. Donald Shane telescope Lick Observatory		120 inch 305 cm	1283 m (4209 ft)	1959	Nicholas Mayall C. Donald Shane
3	Harlan J. Smith Telescope McDonald Observatory		107 in 270 cm	2070 m (6791 ft)	1968	Harlan J. Smith
4	Shajn 2.6m (Crimean 102 inch) Crimean Astrophysical Obs.		102 in 260 cm	600 m (1969 ft) [3]	1961

See also

• List of largest optical reflecting telescopes

References

1. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy & Spaceflight home page - Accessed 28 March 2006
2. Astrobio.net
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2010-01-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

• Telescope Shot