The FCAS Story - Page 3 of
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Further concerns about the building arose when it was noticed
that severe cracks were developing in the wall, particularly in the
machine-shop area. Once again experts were called in, and this time
they seemed to make more sense. The original building plans had called
for a three-tier metal railing around the observing roof-deck. It had
been felt that this would pose a hazard in the possibility of children
climbing it and falling over. Instead the contractor simply carried the
brick wall up about 30 inches and a single rail topped the addition.
This, however, added about 200 pounds per foot to the load on the walls
and eventually the strain showed up as cracks. The solution was a major
renovation paid for by the City. Starting at the edge of the tower all
of the brick was removed from the west and north sides of the building.
As the brick was being removed it was found that the building had not
been properly constructed in the first place. The outer brick wall was
not properly fastened to the inner block wall, and was essentially
standing all by itself, with about an inch gap between the two, and no
insulation or vapor barrier. The brick was tested and found to have
been improperly fired which was the cause of the spalling. To remedy
the situation a new exterior wall was built using modern construction
methods. A steel shell was built and then covered by insulation and a
layer of weatherproof sheetrock. This was then covered with the cement
finishing layer.
Early in the design of the telescope it became apparent that
using our unique approach we would be able to build a telescope far
larger than most amateur groups at the time. It would be one which
could do real research, and the Museum had us make up a list of
possible projects. This list was used to get new manufacturers
interested in the project. There was a Museum Committee to oversee
construction and use of the telescope. With the completion of the
telescope we began to look into ways to implement some of the suggested
observing programs. One of these was to look for lunar transient
events: changes or gas eruptions on the moon. The best way to do that
is to look at the moon alternately through blue and red filters, since
most of the previously seen events had been pink gas clouds which would
show up in one of the filters but not the other. This was tried with
hand-held filters, but a mechanical filter arrangement was never built
since interest in the whole idea was waning.
Another project got much more active support. Considerable
numbers of lunar occultations were timed. That is the passage of the
Moon in front of a star. This information was used by NASA to refine
our knowledge of the precise position of the Moon in preparation for
sending astronauts there. One type of occultation was particularly
useful in the work - the case where the north or south edge of the moon
just barely covers a star. This is called a grazing occultation. A
properly placed observer might see the star blocked out successively by
several mountain peaks along the edge of the Moon. This data gives
precise north-south positions for the Moon, and also can provide a
silhouette of the mountains at that point. Many FCAS members
participated in both of these observational activities.
Somewhat later we engaged in another cooperative venture with
NASA in watching as some of the Apollo Missions went to the Moon. NASA
was not quite sure what would happen if they should lose radio contact
with the spacecraft while in transit. They provided us with precise
expected positions for the spacecraft as it left the Earth and
approached the Moon. We were able to watch several of the missions, and
were watching when Apollo 13 blew out an oxygen tank aborting the rest
of the mission and nearly killing the astronauts. Luckily that was the
only mishap, and our data was not needed to tell them where to point
the extra powerful radio antennas they had waiting.
Another major research area proposed was the study of
variable stars. The secretary of the American Association of Variable
Star Observers (AAVSO) Clinton B. Ford was an FCAS member and realized
that a telescope of this size would be a valuable tool for studying the
variables that were too faint for most amateur telescopes. He enlisted
the aid of other members and variable star work soon became the primary
area of research. With the building of an internal camera mechanism for
the telescope we were able to become a major contributor of photographs
from which the AAVSO could make new star charts. Soon our Observatory
became the primary source of such photos, and entered into drafting the
charts as well. In 1987 the AAVSO gave us a grant to do all chart
drafting for them, as well as other research projects. This entailed
the purchase of a high powered PC type computer and auxiliary equipment
which are now in use to create, update and upgrade the AAVSO charts.
Several FCAS members also contribute their own variable star
observations. The AAVSO's monthly newsletter "AAVSO CIRCULAR" was
published for 25 years at Stamford Observatory from material edited by
former FCAS member John Bortle. Stamford Observatory was also for
several years the headquarters for the editorial staff of the AAVSO
Journal. The present computer is also used to clean up and perfect the
drawings submitted to the Journal.
Since its earliest photos in 1967 the telescope has produced
about 1300 plates, mostly of variable star fields, with a few of comets
and deep-sky objects such as galaxies. In 1976-77 South African
astronomer Christos Papadopoulos loaned the Observatory his 24" focal
length f/6 Zeiss camera lens to complete the northern section or his
"True Visual Magnitude Photographic Star Atlas", from +30 degrees to
the north pole. While the camera was here we photographed as much of
the rest of the sky as possible. This collection of plates, added to
those taken with the 22-inch has been invaluable in the work of
charting new fields for the AAVSO.
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