Moonwatch Volunteers, 1965

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Object Details

Author

Unknown

Subject

Operation Moonwatch

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Notes

Featured in TORCH, December 1983

Summary

Volunteer satellite trackers in Pretoria, South Africa, for Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Moonwatch Network, one of more than 100 teams worldwide. Volunteers used the "fence method" of observing the sky. Each observer covered a small, overlapping portion of a specific sky quadrant, and watches for the passage of the satellite in his telescope. The instrument used was the Moonwatch Apogee Scope, a 20 power telescope with a 5-inch objective lens. The Moonwatch teams backed up an optical network of 12 Baker-Nunn tracking cameras.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 371, Box 4, Folder: December 1983

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1965

Standard number

96-960

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Type

Photographic print

Group, candid

Physical description

Color: Black and White; Size: 10w x 8h; Type of Image: Group, candid; Medium: Photographic print

Place

South Africa

Data Source

Smithsonian Archives - History Div

Topic

Satellite Tracking Program

Observatories

Telescopes

Volunteers

Metadata Usage

Usage conditions apply

Record ID

siris_sic_9832