Goodsell Observatory

Several things have to fall into place in order to be able to look through the special telescopes from the 1800’s at Carleton College.

First, it has to be an open house night…

Second, there has to be clear skies…

Third, it has to be warm enough so the dome panels will not freeze shut (we went one time last winter but the panels were frozen shut.)

Fourth, you have to be available.

All this came together for us and we went to Carleton College’s Goodsell Observatory and looked up into sky to see some stunning views of Saturn and Jupiter.

We arrived in time to see them set the larger telescope in place. It‘s the  16.2″ Brashear Refractor, a 22 foot long telescope mounted in the main dome of the observatory. It was the 12th largest telescope in the world when it was built in 1890. It remained the largest telescope in Minnesota until 1969.*

It was focused on Saturn. We took turns climbing a ladder to reach the scope to look at Saturn with the 250 magnification telescope.

After that amazing experience we said if we could view another planet it would be fun to see Jupiter.

We continued looking at displays in the building and talked with a young, Carleton alum there to answer questions and enthusiastically share information from his vast knowledge of astronomy.

We  noticed an arrow pointing upstairs to another room with a different telescope from the 1800’s. This telescope just happened to be pointing to…yep…Jupiter. This was a “8 ¼” Clark Refractor” and it was the top of line telescope when it was first installed in 1877. It occupies the smaller dome in the observatory.*

So up the stairs we went to look through the telescope focused on Jupiter. I noticed three “stars” near the planet but the professor immediately corrected me and told us it was three of Jupiter’s four moons. I didn’t remember Jupiter had four moons. They are named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Fantastic.

Outside there were two modern telescopes set up. One was focused on Saturn and the other on a Globular Cluster – densely packed collections of stars.

What a wonderful gift Carleton College offers to the community…to see the heavens in all their glory.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.          Psalm 19:1-4a

*information off Carelton College’s website.