Yale University Observatory

Yale University Observatory

Leitner Family Observatory.
Organization	Yale University
Code	797, 798
Location	New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Coordinates	41°19′16″N 72°55′19″W / 41.3210°N 72.9220°W / 41.3210; -72.9220Coordinates: 41°19′16″N 72°55′19″W / 41.3210°N 72.9220°W / 41.3210; -72.9220
Altitude	38 m (125 ft)
Established	1830
Website	[1]
Telescopes
Meade Telescope LX200 12" reflector Grubb Telescope Refractor
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The Yale University Observatory, also known as the Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium, is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Yale University, and maintained for student use. It is located in Farnham Memorial Gardens near the corner of Edwards and Prospect Streets, New Haven, Connecticut.

Yale's first observatory, the Atheneum, was founded in 1830, situated in a tower. From 1830 it housed Yale's first refractor, a 5-inch (130 mm) Dollond donated by Sheldon Clark. It was the largest in the United States at the time. With this telescope Olmsted and Elias Loomis made the first American sighting of the return of Halley's Comet in 1835. (August 31; seen in Europe August 6, but no news of this had reached America). The telescope was mounted on casters and moved from window to window, but it could not reach altitudes much over 30 deg above the horizon.

In 1870, a cylindrical turret was added above the tower, so that all altitudes could be reached. In the same year a 9-inch Alvan Clark refractor was mounted in the observatory. The building was demolished in 1893 and the telescope is now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

The observatory, in the turret (modelled after the gun turret of the ironclad ship USS Monitor), housed a 9-inch (230 mm) Alvan Clark refractor donated by Joseph E. Sheffield. The telescope was later housed in the dome on Bingham Hall (the dome later converted to a small planetarium, and now used as an experimental aquarium).