Macalester Welcomes its New Telescope!
The new telescope arrived at Macalester College on Monday, June 21, 1998. It was an exciting day in the physics department! We received NSF-ILI funds 2 years ago which Macalester College matched. With that money, we contracted with DFM Engineering Co. to build a 16" Cass telescope.
Below left and right: the base is lifted into the dome. The base of the telescope weighs about 400 pounds. It was lifted into the dome using a crane. To ensure a stable fixed mount, the base was placed on a concrete pier aligned with true North. This pier extends into the bedrock below Olin-Rice.
Professor Kim Venn, Alyson Brooks '00, Megan Auger '00, and Denis Foo Kune '99 worked with Ian, an engineer from DFM, to assemble the telescope. The first day of installation week was spent mounting the base and doing electrical work. The motor driver chasis for the telescope resides in our lab, so the electical cables for the telscope were pulled up a tube that runs from a wall in the lab to the floor of the observatory, about 40 feet away and above. (Math professor Daniel Kaplan spent this day disassembling the huge, re-enforced telescope shipping crate for his daughters to play in.)  Ian displays his stuff
Kim Venn with her (other) new baby.
The second day of installation began by placing the primary mirror into the tube and leveling it. The secondary mirror had been leveled at DFM. Denis gently adjusted the mirror as Ian leveled it. The screws holding the mirror in place are fiberglass. Thanks to this, if we were to make a mistake during collomation, the screws would break before the mirror does. We lifted the tube into place and attached the primary mirror at the base of the tube. All we need then was a clear night! Alyson, Denis and Ian lift the new tube onto the mount!