Meridian Circle
date: label: date made
content: ca 1865
name: label: maker
content: Young, William J.
notes: label: Description
content: This meridian circle was installed in the new observatory at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1865, and used by Maria Mitchell, her students, and successors. An inscription reads "Wm. J. Young Philadelphia, Pa." The telescope has a clear aperture of 4 inches, and a focal length of 5 feet. The circles at either end of the axis measure 30 inches in diameter. One is finely graduated to 3" of arc, and read by vernier; the other is used simply as a finder. Vassar College donated this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1980, along with the observer's couch and the apparatus used to reverse the telescope.
label: Description
content: D. J. Warner, "William J. Young: From Craft to Industry in a Skilled Trade," <i>Pennsylvania History</i> 52 (1985): 53-68.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Astronomy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Vassar College
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0318.01A
label: accession number
content: 1980.0318
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0318.01A
objectType: label: Object Name
content: transit, astronomical
label: Object Name
content: astronomical transit
label: Object Name
content: axis, meridian circle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 26 in x 41 in x 60 in; 66.04 cm x 104.14 cm x 152.4 cm