Location | New Jersey, United States | ||
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Coordinates | 40°39′59″N74°19′24″W / 40.66639°N 74.32333°W | ||
Altitude | 23 m | ||
Website | www | ||
Telescopes | |||
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The William Miller Sperry Observatory, also known simply as the Sperry Observatory, is an astronomical observatory owned by Union County College and operated by Amateur Astronomers, Incorporated. The observatory is located on the property of Union County College on their Cranford, New Jersey campus. It was named after William Miller Sperry [1] and dedicated in 1967. [2]
Mrs. Carrie Regina Beinecke and her son, William Sperry Beinecke, made a $150,000 donation to what was then the Union County Junior College. The donation was used to build Sperry Observatory, which was dedicated on May 21, 1967 in honor of William Miller Sperry, Mrs. Beinecke's father. Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley was the keynote speaker at the 1967 dedication. [3]
Sperry Observatory has been operated since its dedication by Amateur Astronomers, Inc. The observatory houses two of the largest telescopes on the East Coast open to the public on a weekly basis. The East Dome holds a 10-inch f/15 refractor built by AAI members and donated to the college in November 1972. The West Dome has a 24-inch f/11 Cassegrain reflector purchased and owned by AAI, and installed in October 1974.
Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. In 2011, the Observatory was named one of "The World's 100 Most Important Places" by Time Magazine. It was at the Lowell Observatory that the dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh.
Cranford is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increase of 1,222 (+5.4%) from the 2010 census count of 22,625, which in turn reflected an increase of 47 (+0.2%) from the 22,578 counted in the 2000 census.
Yerkes Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. The observatory was operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding in 1897 until 2018. Ownership was transferred to the non-profit Yerkes Future Foundation (YFF) in May 2020, which began millions of dollars of restoration and renovation of the historic building and grounds. Yerkes re-opened for public tours and programming in May 2022. The April 2024 issue of National Geographic magazine featured a story about the Observatory and ongoing work to restore it to relevance for astronomy, public science engagement and exploring big ideas through art, science, culture and landscape. The observatory offers tickets to programs and tours on its website.
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by the University of California Observatories, with headquarters on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus, where its scientific staff moved in the mid-1960s. It is named after James Lick.
Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in the Palomar Mountains of San Diego County, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observatory is granted to Caltech and its research partners, which include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Yale University, and the National Astronomical Observatories of China.
Steward Observatory is the research arm of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona (UArizona). Its offices are located on the UArizona campus in Tucson, Arizona (US). Established in 1916, the first telescope and building were formally dedicated on April 23, 1923. It operates, or is a partner in telescopes at five mountain-top locations in Arizona, one in New Mexico, one in Hawaii, and one in Chile. It has provided instruments for three different space telescopes and numerous terrestrial ones. Steward has one of the few facilities in the world that can cast and figure the very large primary mirrors used in telescopes built in the early 21st century.
Sperry may refer to:
Thomas William Webb was a British astronomer. Some sources give his year of birth as 1806. The only son of a clergyman, the Reverend John Webb, he was raised and educated by his father, his mother having died while Thomas was a small child. He went to Oxford where he attended Magdalen Hall. In 1829 was ordained a minister in the Anglican Church. He was married to Henrietta Montague Wyatt (1820-1884) in 1843, daughter of Mr. Arthur Wyatt, Monmouth. Mrs. Webb died on 7 September 1884, and after a year of declining health Thomas died on 19 May 1885.
Goldendale Observatory State Park Heritage Site is an educational facility on the northern side of Goldendale, Washington, notable for its unusually large public telescope. The state park occupies five acres (2.0 ha) atop a 2,100-foot (640 m) hill.
The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP) is an Astronomical Organization founded on June 9, 1929, by Chester B. Roe and Leo J. Scanlon. Since its establishment, it has grown to have over 500 members and operates two observatories in the Pittsburgh region: the Nicholas E. Wagman Observatory and the Mingo Creek Park Observatory. The club also sponsors many star parties that are open to the public throughout the year.
The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE) is an astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The ROE comprises the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) of STFC, the Institute for Astronomy of the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh, and the ROE Visitor Centre.
Union College is a public community college in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was founded in 1933 as the first of New Jersey's public community colleges. The college has four campuses: Cranford, Elizabeth, Plainfield, and Scotch Plains. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The college offers more than 80 programs leading to Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degrees and certificate programs provided by the Continuing Education program. It also offers distance education classes.
Fox Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by South Florida Amateur Astronomers Association. It is located in Sunrise, Florida (US).
Mount Lemmon Observatory (MLO), also known as the Mount Lemmon Infrared Observatory, is an astronomical observatory located on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately 28 kilometers northeast of Tucson, Arizona (US). The site in the Coronado National Forest is used with special permission from the U.S. Forest Service by the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, and contains a number of independently managed telescopes.
The Cranford Township Public Schools is a comprehensive public school district serving students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade in Cranford in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The district is governed by a nine-member elected board of education.
Cranford, New Jersey is home to a diverse number of historic architectural styles, historically significant buildings, and landmarks. Structures dating from 1740 through the present can be found in a relatively small area of the township.
Thomas Alexander Sperry was the co-founder and the "S" of S&H Green Stamps, together with Shelley Byron Hutchinson of Ypsilanti, Michigan.
William Miller Sperry (1858–1927) is the namesake of the William Miller Sperry Observatory in Cranford, New Jersey. According to his sworn passport application, he was born on September 14, 1858, in Bristol, Tennessee. He moved to Cranford in 1898 and succeeded his brother Thomas Sperry as president of S&H Green Stamps. Buried in Fairview Cemetery, Sperry was the donor behind Sperry Park bordering the Rahway River in Cranford. The site is also part of the Rahway River Parkway, a greenway of the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation. Sperry's great-granddaughter, Frances Beinecke, is an environmentalist and the former president of Natural Resources Defense Council, and his grandson is William Sperry Beinecke.
William Sperry Beinecke was an American philanthropist and businessman.
The Milwaukee Astronomical Society (MAS) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization serving amateur astronomers in the greater Milwaukee area since 1932, making it one of the oldest continuously running astronomy clubs in the nation. The MAS operates an observatory, one of the largest amateur club observatories in the world. The current membership is 393.