Also Not to Be Overlooked: . . . View PLANETS slide show The Observatory's old webpage »Photon« Java applet »Jovian Satellites« Java applet Minor Planet Center Link for Asteroid Orbits Other Points of Interest The CORDELL-LORENZ OBSERVATORY The Cordell-Lorenz Observatory is used for education and research at The University of the South located in Sewanee, TN. We are located on the roof of Carnegie Hall, just north of All Saints Chapel on the main quad of the University along University Ave. Enter the stairwell from the archway between Carnegie and the Chapel and go to the third floor. Follow the signs up one more flight of stairs to the roof. The Observatory has a 1897 vintage 6 inch Alvan Clark refractor located in the main dome and several other telescopes between 3.5 and 12.5 inch aperture. Public observation sessions are every Thursday from 8 until 10 PM when the University is in session (mid August through mid December and mid January through mid May ). NEW EQUIPMENT We have recently installed two new telescopes at the Cordell-Lorenz Observatory at The University of The South. They are mounted on permanent pier mounts inside a small roll-off structure. When weather permits, the building is just rolled off from over the mounted telescopes and observations can begin without the problems of mounting and orienting the telescopes. One of these new scopes is a 12.5 inch f/4.5 Cave-Astrolla Newtonian telescope. It provides a wide field of view for large and dim celestial objects. It will be used for public observations and wide field electronic imaging. The second new telescope is a Meade LX200 12 inch f/10 , adaptable to f/6.3, SCT (Schmidt-Casegrain Telescope ). This telescope was purchased primarily from donations from alumni. It is computer controlled and has over 64,000 objects stored in its memory. The telescope can automatically slew to any object which is above the horizon. The telescope tracks the objects very accurately and is used primarily for electronic imaging. With our ST-8 and ST-6 electronic CCD cameras we can see objects as dim as 20 th magnitude in a five minute exposure. We are using the new telescopes to look for supernovae in other galaxies and for new comets and asteroids in our own solar system. The light pollution from several newly installed and renovated streetlights is causing an increasing problem with viewing of dim astronomical objects from the Observatory - we should be able to see dimmer objects with our new telescopes but they are lost in the increasing glow from the streetlights. If the lights were better shielded more light could get to the ground where it is needed and less would get into the sky where it is a problem.

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