Lamont-Hussey Observatory
| Organization | University of Michigan | ||||
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| Location | Bloemfontein, Free State | ||||
| Coordinates | 29°05′48″S 26°14′10″E / 29.0966°S 26.2362°ECoordinates: 29°05′48″S 26°14′10″E / 29.0966°S 26.2362°E | ||||
| Altitude | 1,478 metres (4,849 ft) | ||||
| Established | 1928 | ||||
| Closed | 1972 | ||||
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| unnamed telescope | 27-inch refractor |
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| unnamed telescope | 6-inch refractor |
The Lamont–Hussey Observatory (LHO) was an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of Michigan (UM). It was located in the city of Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. Construction at the site began in 1927, and the facility was closed in 1972.
Other observatories that UM has operated include the Detroit Observatory (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1854), the Angell Hall Observatory (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1927), the McMath-Hulbert Observatory (Lake Angelus, Michigan, 1930), the Portage Lake Observatory (Dexter, Michigan, 1948), and the Peach Mountain Observatory (Dexter, Michigan, 1955).
The LHO was the project of two people: Robert P. Lamont, an industrialist, and William J. Hussey, a Professor of Astronomy at UM, and director of the Detroit Observatory. The two men shared a room while attending UM, and were friends from that time. Lamont agreed to fund an observatory in the Southern Hemisphere in 1910. However, the First World War intervened and the project was on hold for several years. In 1923, Hussey visited South Africa and selected Naval Hill in Bloemfontein as the site for the observatory. After the telescope was completed and shipped to South Africa in 1926, Hussey and another UM professor, R. A. Rossiter, left Michigan for the observatory site. During a stopover in London, Hussey died suddenly. Rossiter continued the journey, and oversaw construction of the observatory building for the next two years. He became the director of the LHO when it opened, and remained in that position until retiring in 1952.
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