Nineteenth century astronomy at the US Naval Academy

Abstract

During the 1850s the newly-formed U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, acquired a small observatory featuring a 19.7-cm (7.75-in.) Clark refractor, transit telescopes, and an astronomical clock. The observatory was used as a base by staff to teach students the rudiments of nautical astronomy, but for a short time in 1869 the refractor was relocated to Des Moines, Iowa, as part of a U.S. Naval Observatory initiative to photograph a total solar eclipse. Although the Academy's observatory was demolished in 1908, courses and research in astrophysics were later introduced, and after more than 150 years astronomy continues to thrive at the U.S. Naval Academy.