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When
it left the shop of Josef Fraunhofer in 1839, the 15" Harvard
refractor was undoubtedly the finest telescope in the world. The
appearance of a bright comet in the mid 1830's had aroused public
interest, and the good citizens of Boston soon raised funds for the
purchase of a large telescope by popular subcription.
Fraunhofer's
shop produced two identical lenses that year, one for Harvard, and the
other for the Pulkovo Observatory at St.
Petersburg, Russia. The
Harvard instrument was placed into service in 1844. In
1850 Henry Draper made the first celestial photographs with the
telescope; and it has now been in continuous use for over 150 years. Telescopes
are very cost-effective. |
