The History of a Simply Perfect Telescope: The Burnham Telescope

press release: Presentation by Dr. Jim Lattis, Director of UW Space Place

S.W. Burnham's 6-inch Clark refractor, in service from 1870, quickly became famous as a potent double star catcher. Sold to Washburn Observatory, it travelled with Edward Holden to search for Vulcan during the total solar eclipse of May 1883. Back in Madison, it was used by George Comstock for his measurements of refraction and aberration. In the late 1950s it was used at the Knuijt Observatory in Appleton, Wisconsin. Travels and transformations of this famous telescope have spread its parts widely as astronomical relics, and it even remains in active service today.