We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day than August 9 for Rick Lynch to drive Bob Horton, Jim Hendrickson and Francine Jackson to Wellesley College, to meet Jonathan Kent, manager of the Whitin Observatory. After arriving, Jonathan opened the building, and showed us the library, which he proudly stated was the students’ library. It was for them to work in, decorate – as evidenced by the solar system mobile and giant inflatable cat; it also had two pictures of students around the same table, but decades apart, noted only by a “portrait” of Saturn on the far wall, the first a painting, the second an image from Cassini. The library also houses a Hale spectrohelioscope for studying the solar spectrum.
A wonderful tribute to how the school appreciates the observatory is in a workroom is located the original front entrance of the building, beautifully kept up.
Then it was on to the three domes: The first was a 6-inch Alvan Clark refractor (built in 1890, installed at Whitin in 1905), that is used by all students who undergo a short “internship,” allowing them to use it at any free evening. Then, we went to the 12-inch refractor. Built by Henry Fitz in 1852 and refigured in 1867 by Alvan Clark & Sons, it is Whitin Observatory’s original large instrument, installed in 1900, and again, a student-friendly machine. Finally, we went to the newest instrument, a PlaneWave CDK700. The CDK700, installed at the observatory in 2019, is accessed by a short, enclosed stairway and a ship’s ladder up to the dome. Its control room is the observatory’s former transit room.
Beginning with its first observatory director, Sarah Frances Whiting, Wellesley College has been instructing women in astronomy and physics for decades. Among her famous students was Annie Jump Cannon, originator of the information that became the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Many others have gone into astronomy and physics related vocations, and those that are there now also aspire to do the same.
It was truly a wonderful excursion to a local working facility, and Jonathan, seeing he had such an enthusiastic group, invited us to return at any time. In addition to his students, he enjoys being with fellow astronomy lovers.
