New York City’s first free astronomical observatory will open next spring in the Bronx, with a high-definition telescope.
The Association of Amateur Astronomers (AAA) and the city Parks Department agreed to install a small aluminum observatory in Jerome Park, located on Goulden Avenue near the Bronx High School of Science.
The dome the 800 pound dome that will crown the structure stood atop a building at Nassau Community College on Long Island for more than 40 years until 2019, when the school replaced it with a green roof and six outdoor telescopes, he described Gothamist.
The association removed the dome last spring with the help of a crane truck and is now close to achieving one of its long-standing goals: open the first fully public stargazing facility in New York City.
“There are literally thousands of objects that can be imaged from New York City: really everything in the universe.”
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New York City’s first free observatory is coming to a Bronx park, and organizers expect to open it to stargazers as soon as this spring. https://t.co/E3GH6fjfi6
— Gothamist (@Gothamist) January 18, 2024
“There were some comments from people saying, ‘Why are they putting an observatory in the Bronx?’” said Bart Fried, AAA executive vice president. “All they think is, ‘Oh, you know, you can’t see anything from New York,’ which is silly because “We have been looking around all of New York for almost a century.”
Fried said the group plans start construction in March and should only take a month. The observatory, which will be located on the banks of the Jerome Park reservoir, It’s not much bigger than a portable toilet. The 9.5-foot-tall, 6.5-foot-wide structure It can comfortably accommodate two or three people.
Its dome will have a powerful Celestron Edge HD telescope capable of providing stargazers with views of everything in our solar system: comets, asteroids, the sun and all the planets, including “dwarf” Pluto. The project has approval from the Parks Department, and AAA will manage the observatory.
“The Association of Amateur Astronomers has been working for many years trying to get some kind of public observatory in New York City, so “This is a great moment.” said science historian Trudy E. Bell, who is working on a study of 19th-century American observatories and telescopes. “They are not only interested in history. From her point of view, use is the highest form of conservation and excites young people.”
“Now there is awareness that The night sky is a precious resource and it is disappearing due to city lights and tens of thousands of satellites being launchedBell lamented.
“Once we start doing some astrophotography, I’ll say almost the universe is the limit,” said Fried enthusiastically. “There are literally thousands of objects that can be imaged from New York City, including a multitude of galaxies, star clusters, gaseous nebulae and, in fact, everything in the universe.”
2024-01-30 17:34:00
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