Moonwatch Volunteers, 1965

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.

Subject

• Operation Moonwatch
• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

Featured in TORCH, December 1983

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

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

• Observatories
• Satellite Tracking Program
• Telescopes
• Volunteers

Place

South Africa

Form/Genre

• Photographic print
• Group, candid

ID Number

96-960

Physical description

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

Full Record

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