Waveland Observatory - Revision history

Daniel Taylor: /* Architecture (interior and exterior) */

2018-06-01T17:08:01Z

Architecture (interior and exterior)

Daniel Taylor at 17:07, 1 June 2018

2018-06-01T17:07:49Z

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Daniel Taylor at 18:25, 24 May 2018

2018-05-24T18:25:21Z

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2015-06-08T16:36:03Z

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2015-06-08T16:28:24Z

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2012-02-02T20:37:24Z

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2012-02-02T20:36:58Z

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2012-02-02T20:35:56Z

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2012-02-02T20:35:34Z

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2012-02-02T20:32:05Z

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← Older revision		Revision as of 17:08, 1 June 2018
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	==Architecture (interior and exterior)==		==Architecture (interior and exterior)==

−	~~[[File:drakeapedia7.png\|251x311px\|right\|Drake Municipal Observatory's open house brochure. May 4, 2001. copyright - Drake University.]]~~

	The observatory is 90 years old this year. The building was made of stone blocks with carved zodiac signs outlining the doorway. A spiral, metal staircase is how the dome is accessed [8]. The dome-roofed circular observing room located on top of the observatory is where the telescope is currently housed. The dome can rotate to easily track stars. There are two retractable doors for extension of the telescope. A lecture room seating one hundred people can also be found in the observatory. Found inside the lecture room is a trippensee planetarium, which is a scale model of the earth and moon orbiting the sun [9].		The observatory is 90 years old this year. The building was made of stone blocks with carved zodiac signs outlining the doorway. A spiral, metal staircase is how the dome is accessed [8]. The dome-roofed circular observing room located on top of the observatory is where the telescope is currently housed. The dome can rotate to easily track stars. There are two retractable doors for extension of the telescope. A lecture room seating one hundred people can also be found in the observatory. Found inside the lecture room is a trippensee planetarium, which is a scale model of the earth and moon orbiting the sun [9].

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:25, 24 May 2018
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	<span style="color: #000000;">[10] Hogan, E. (2009, September 24). Drake Municipal Observatory offers lecture to the community. ''The Times-Delphic'', pp. 2.</span>		<span style="color: #000000;">[10] Hogan, E. (2009, September 24). Drake Municipal Observatory offers lecture to the community. ''The Times-Delphic'', pp. 2.</span>
	Waveland Observatory (Des Moines Municipal Observatory)		Waveland Observatory (Des Moines Municipal Observatory)
		+
		+	[[Category:Drake_Buildings]]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 [[File:DrakeMunicipalObservatorybynight.png|left|Drake]]
 ==='''<span style="color: #000000;">Location</span>'''===
-<span style="color: #000000;">Contrary to popular belief, not all Drake property is on Drake campus. The Drake Municipal Observatory is used for Astronomy lectures and labs, and it is located a little over two miles off campus. It is located on a hill at the Waveland Golf Course </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[1]</span><span style="color: #000000;">. Due to being on a hill, the observatory has a fairly clear view of the sky. However, according to Mary Jean Timp, when the facility was brand new, the view was much better. Back in the day the site was a relatively open countryside without streetlights that produce an obscuring haze in the sky </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[2]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
+<span style="color: #000000;">Contrary to popular belief, not all Drake property is on Drake campus. The Drake Municipal Observatory is used for Astronomy lectures and labs, and it is located a little over two miles off campus. It is located on a hill at the Waveland Golf Course </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[1]</span><span style="color: #000000;">. Due to being on a hill, the observatory has a fairly clear view of the sky. However, according to Mary Jean Timp, when the facility was brand new, the view was much better. Back in the day the site was a relatively open countryside without streetlights–the addition of which tend to produce an obscuring haze in the sky </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[2].</span>
 ==='''<span style="color: #000000;">History</span>'''===

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 [[File:DrakeMunicipalObservatorybynight.png|left|Drake]]
 ==='''<span style="color: #000000;">Location</span>'''===
-<span style="color: #000000;">Contrary to popular belief, not all Drake property is on Drake campus. The Drake Municipal Observatory is used for Astronomy lectures and labs, and it is located a little over two miles off campus. It is located on a hill at the Waveland Golf Course </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[1]</span><span style="color: #000000;">. Due to being on a hill, the observatory has a fairly clear view of the sky. However, according to Mary Jean Timp, when the facility was brand new, the view was much better. Back in the day the site was a relatively open country side without streetlights forming an obscuring haze in the sky </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[2]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
+<span style="color: #000000;">Contrary to popular belief, not all Drake property is on Drake campus. The Drake Municipal Observatory is used for Astronomy lectures and labs, and it is located a little over two miles off campus. It is located on a hill at the Waveland Golf Course </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[1]</span><span style="color: #000000;">. Due to being on a hill, the observatory has a fairly clear view of the sky. However, according to Mary Jean Timp, when the facility was brand new, the view was much better. Back in the day the site was a relatively open countryside without streetlights that produce an obscuring haze in the sky </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[2]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
 ==='''<span style="color: #000000;">History</span>'''===

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 <span style="color: #000000;">After 98 years the telescope needed some major repairs. The restoration, originally priced at an expected $10,000, included repairing, restoring and modernizing the telescope. Warren Kutok, owner of Photon Instrument Ltd. of Evasion, was the mastermind behind the restoration. Refurbishing the observatory was more than just cleaning and polishing the telescope; it also included programming a new motor drive for allowing star gazers to use. Madelyn M. Levitt, among other longtime and generous supporters, donated $150,000 toward the renovation, therefore allowing Drake to maintain their role in the observatory. Levitt was content with the fact that Drake was continuing its ‘gentleperson’s agreement’ by keeping the grounds to supply learning opportunities to its students since 1921 </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[7]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
-==='''<span style="color: #000000;">Architecture (interior and exteri[[File:drakeapedia7.png|243x267px|right|Drake]]or)</span>'''===
+==='''<span style="color: #000000;">Architecture (interior and exteri[[File:drakeapedia7.png|251x311px|right|Drake]]or)</span>'''===
 <span style="color: #000000;">The observatory is 90 years old this year. The building was made of stone blocks with carved zodiac signs outlining the doorway. A spiral, metal staircase is how the dome is accessed </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[8]</span><span style="color: #000000;">. The dome-roofed circular observing room located on top of the observatory is where the telescope is currently housed. The dome can rotate to easily track stars. There are two retractable doors for extension of the telescope. A lecture room seating one hundred people can also be found in the observatory. Found inside the lecture room is a trippensee planetarium, which is a scale model of the earth and moon orbiting the sun </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[9]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==='''<span style="color: #000000;">History</span>'''===
 [[File:DrakeMunicipalObservatorymap.png|426x248px|right|Google]]
 <span style="color: #000000;">In 1921, when the observatory was built, Daniel Morehouse was simply a professor of physics and astronomy at Drake. However, he was a dedicated professor, serving as head of the Astronomy Department, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and President of the university. Astronomy was Professor Morehouse’s strong point, and was known best among his fellow astronomers for discovering a comet in 1908 at an observatory in Wisconsin. This comet he found was named after him and had a recorded tail length of 140,000 miles long. Morehouse made another discovery, but this time at the Drake Observatory. He found a nebulous star. He said “these nebulous stars are very rare and very interesting, it is possible that light from this nebula started 100,000 years ago and has just reached the earth” </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[5]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
@@ Line 24: / Line 23: @@
 ==='''<span style="color: #000000;">References</span>'''===
 <span style="color: #000000;">[1] Hansen, C. (1965, March 26). Drake Observatory is Cultural Asset: Waveland Park Building—Community, Campus Astronomy Center. ''The Times Delphic'', pp 3.</span>
 <span style="color: #000000;">[2] Timp, M. J. (1984, April 5). Behind observatory walls. ''Des Moines Register'', pp 11D.</span>

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 <span style="color: #000000;">The former President Daniel Morehouse [''add link of Daniel Morehouse''] of Drake University worked with the city of Des Moines to have a joint cooperation in the building of an observatory which would house Drake’s telescope at the Waveland Park Golf Course. The current observatory belongs to both, the college and the city. In 1921 the city’s observatory was built, as was the installation of Drake’s telescope and related scientific equipment </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[3]</span><span style="color: #000000;">. “The observatory was dedicated on November 5, 1921, and in 1990 the Des Moines City Council finally designated the observatory as a city landmark. Obviously this is a municipally-owned observatory, which is rare according to Professor Schwartz. Professor Schwartz called this observatory “one of the last of the classical teaching observatories” </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[4]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
-<span style="color: #000000;">In 1921, when the observatory was built, Daniel Morehouse was simply a professor of physics and astronomy at Drake. However, he was a dedicated professor, serving as head of the Astronomy Department, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and Pr[[File:DrakeMunicipalObservatorymap.png|right|Google]]esident of the university. Astronomy was Professor Morehouse’s strong point, and was known best among his fellow astronomers for discovering a comet in 1908 at an observatory in Wisconsin. This comet he found was named after him and had a recorded tail length of 140,000 miles long. Morehouse made another discovery, but this time at the Drake Observatory. He found a nebulous star. He said “these nebulous stars are very rare and very interesting, it is possible that light from this nebula started 100,000 years ago and has just reached the earth” </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[5]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
+<span style="color: #000000;">In 1921, when the observatory was built, Daniel Morehouse was simply a professor of physics and astronomy at Drake. However, he was a dedicated professor, serving as head of the Astronomy Department, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and President of the university. Astronomy was Professor Morehouse’s strong point, and was known best among his fellow astronomers for discovering a comet in 1908 at an observatory in Wisconsin. This comet he found was named after him and had a recorded tail length of 140,000 miles long. Morehouse made another discovery, but this time at the Drake Observatory. He found a nebulous star. He said “these nebulous stars are very rare and very interesting, it is possible that light from this nebula started 100,000 years ago and has just reached the earth” </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[5]</span><span style="color: #000000;">.</span>
 <span style="color: #000000;">Rumor has it that the observatory is haunted. Yes, the building has been vandalized several times over the years, but apparently the spirit of Morehouse roams the building. Immured behind a bronzed plaque mounted on a wall dedicated to Morehouse are the ashes of Morehouse and his wife, Myrtle. The observatory served as a second home for Morehouse while he observed a particular heavenly body or exposed developed photographic plates. He even had a bedroom in the basement. Today the frame of his single, iron bed is still there, as well as some old photographic plates and an abandoned darkroom where he often worked </span><span style="color: #000000; vertical-align: super;">[6]</span><span style="color: #000000;">. It is quite possible that the spirit of Morehouse is within this building considering it was his life and his remains are embedded in the building.</span>