Observatory

In June 1895 the State Legislature approved $15,000 for the construction of an observatory at the University of Illinois and by April of the following year construction was underway on the $6,800 building. [1] The building, designed by Charles A. Gunn, is [2] located at latitude 40o 6' 29".66, longitude, west of Washington, 11o 10' 37".5, or 44m. 42.5s, with elevation 720 feet above sea level. [3] Construction took just four months to complete and the observatory was in use by August. In November, the primary observing instrument arrived, a 12-inch Equatorial Telescope. By 1914 an observatory annex had been constructed to house a 30-inch reflecting telescope. [4] Designed by James White and [5] costing just $2,461.20 to erect, [6] the annex was later remodeled and relocated in 1924. [7] In 1954 the first addition to the observatory was constructed, followed by a second addition in 1966, adding laboratories for optical and radio astronomy. [8]

The Observatory was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 6, 1986 and on December 20, 1989 it became a National Historic Landmark. [9]

As part of its dedication to astronomical research, the University also created the Vermillion River Observatory, located 5 miles southeast of Danville. It was here that a new $871,650 reflecting radio telescope was dedicated on November 9, 1962, to "try to answer the question of whether the universe is "flying to pieces'". The 5 acre telescope was 600 feet wide by 400 feet long, consisting of "2x2 inch galvanized wire mesh, stapled to the asphalt liner with successive rolls crimped to 1 another so that each half of the reflector forms a continuous electrical surface, accurate to within 1 inch of a perfect parabolic cylinder". [10]