Click here for a short history
of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Negative number: 80-12955 The Astrophysical Observatory, established on 1 March 1890, in the South Yard behind the Smithsonian Institution Building, 1899.

Negative number: 94-12574 Loyal B. Aldrich, standing, who worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1908-1955, and two unidentified persons riding a tram up the side of Mt. Wilson, California.

Negative number: 10815-B The 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson, California Observatory which served as a Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory observation from 1905 to the mid 1930's.

Negative number: 11015 Loyal B. Aldrich and others of the living quarters at the Astrophysical Observatory Solar Station on Mt. Montezuma, Chile, 1920's.

Negative number: 33668 Solar observation equipment and entrance to the instrument tunnel at the Mt. Montezuma, Chile Observatory, 1920's.

Negative number: 78-6571 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harqua Hala, Arizona (Mt. Harquahala), 1920.

Negative number: 31226-N Mt. St. Katherine, Egypt, was a solar observing station of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1933-1937. This view shows the observatory and dwelling at the site.

Negative number: 94-12577 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory employees and others at Mt. St. Katherine, Egypt, site of Smithsonian Solar Observing Station (1933-1937).

Negative number: 33550-B Instrument tunnel at the Tyrone Solar Station, Burro Mountain, New Mexico, solar observing station, ca. early 1940's.

Negative number: 95-1193 The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The headquarters of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory moved from Washington, D.C. to Cambridge in 1955.

Negative number: 92-1773 At the Mt. Hopkins Observatory, now the F. L. Whipple Observatory, is (l - r) Tucson, Arizona, mayor James Corbitt, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Director Dr. Fred Whipple (1955-1973) and Rep. Morris K. Udall (D-AZ), 23 October 1968, soon after it opened. They are standing in front of a 34-foot gamma-ray collector. The large surface light collector, a mosaic of 252 polished glass mirrors, searches for sources of gamma-ray radiation in the heavens.

Negative number: 94-8331 One of the six cells designed to hold the 72-inch mirrors of the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) is lowered into the building on the top of Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, 1978. The MMT is some 8,500 feet above the Santa Cruz Valley. Photo by Vicki Chacon.

Negative number: 95-1211 A winding, single-lane, dirt road 18 miles long connects the Smithsonian's Whipple Observatory atop Mount Hopkins in Arizona with the outside world. In 1984, a 1.5-mile section of the road at the very top, between the 8,550-foot summit and the 7,600-foot 'ridge' was paved. Photo by Dane Penland.

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