New York is a city better known for its pollution than its stargazing opportunities. Yet it takes but a short walk up a flight of stairs to the Rutherford Observatory on the roof of Pupin Hall to reveal Columbia University's rather expansive view of the heavens.
The Rutherford Observatory, in its various permutations, has been a fixture of Columbia University for over 70 years. Yet Columbia's relationship with the astronomical world dates back even farther, according to Astronomy Professor David Helfand.
"In 1776, Columbia lent George Washington a telescope to use in the Battle of Long Island," Helfand said. "Unfortunately he lost that telescope. Money was then acquired at the turn of the century to build an observatory, and during the 1920s an observatory was built at the current Columbia campus."
Originally, a 12.5-inch refractor telescope was built into Pupin Hall during the early part of the century. A pillar was erected through Pupin Hall and the telescope was perched on top of the pillar. A 20-foot-high dome was also built around the telescope.
During the 1970s, an additional 10-foot dome was built at the top of Pupin to house the world's smallest radio telescope. The radio telescope was used to create a map of the coldest regions of interstellar space, a map that is now used in standardized astronomy texts. The radio telescope remained at Columbia for 10 years before it was moved to an observatory in Arizona.
In the late 1990s, the 12.5-inch refractor telescope had also worn out its welcome at Columbia. While initially the telescope had been a valid academic tool, after 70 years of use it became cumbersome and no longer functioned properly. Columbia sold the telescope to the South Carolina State Museum in the spring of 1997.
"The first telescope in Pupin mainly served as a backdrop on news stories about astronomy; [after many years] there was no pretense of its academic use," Helfand said. "It belonged in a museum."
Funds from the sale of the 12.5-inch telescope and additional money allocated by the University went to buying a new telescope, a 16-inch computer-controlled telescope with a built-in electronic camera.
It took six months of assembly before the new telescope was fully functional in the spring of 1998.
In the early 1990s, the University also acquired a smaller visible light telescope to replace the radio telescope.
Overall, the telescopes are used mostly for instructional purposes. Light pollution caused from New York City's bright streets and neon lights makes all but the brightest stars virtually invisible from the telescope, according to Don Neill, a graduate student in the Department of Astronomy and an instructor in the lab portion of the undergraduate course Beyond the Solar System.
"We mostly use the telescope to show students objects like Saturn and various star clusters," Neill said. "The [New York] sky inhibits the instructional aspect, and our range from the observatory is limited to about two dozen objects."
Even so, the observatory has a significant academic purpose. Students in introductory astronomy courses learn how to operate telescopes by practicing on those in the Rutherford observatory.
Gabriel Miller-Phillips, CC '02, used the telescope in Beyond the Solar System.
"We only used the telescope a couple times during my class to look at galaxies, planets, and star clusters," Miller-Phillips said. "It was fun to use, but everyone in the class had to use it so there wasn't really time for individual observation. It's also really cold up there in the winter, so we didn't want to stay up there too long."
To find the secluded treasure, one must climb a short vertical ladder to enter the main observatory that houses the larger telescope. The dome that houses this telescope once accommodated the larger 12.5-inch refractor telescope, so today empty space fills the dome.
When viewing the stars, a small section of the ceiling opens and the floor of the observatory lowers, another obsolete feature once designed for the larger refractor telescope so its lens would not hit the ceiling. The smaller telescope is kept in an adjacent room on the roof.
The observatory also offers free public viewings every other Friday, an hour after sunset for two to five hours, weather permitting.
Usually a few dozen people come to the viewings, but astronomical events such as the Hale-Bopp comet have drawn hundreds of people, according to Helfand.
Victor Fernandez, GSAS '90, and video engineer with National Video Center, learned about the observatory when he was going to school at Columbia and has been coming to the Rutherford observatory regularly for a few years.
"I can't believe I'm the only one up there sometimes; it's too bad more people don't know about it," he said, indicating that it is not so easy to find the roof observatory and that the weather-dependent schedule is variable.
"You really have to take the initiative if you are interested," he said. "They won't hold your hand."
Regardless of ease of access or weather cancellations, Fernandez said the observatory is an asset to the community.
"I really like the idea of the Pupin Observatory making itself available to the public, because I am interested and do take the initiative," Fernandez said.
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy