Fick Observatory
Encyclopedia
| Organization | Iowa State University Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of... |
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| Location | Boone, Iowa Boone, Iowa Boone is a city in and the county seat of Des Moines Township, Boone County, Iowa, United States. It is the principal city of the 'Boone, Iowa Micropolitan Statistical Area', which encompasses all of Boone County. This micropolitan statistical area, along with the 'Ames, Iowa Metropolitan... , USA |
| Coordinates | 42°00′20.2"N 93°56′38.2"W |
| Altitude | 314 m |
| Webpage | Fick Observatory |
| Telescopes | |
| Mather | 0.6 m reflector |
| Radio | 8.5 m dish |
The Fick Observatory is an astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
owned and operated by Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
. It is located southwest of Boone, Iowa
Boone, Iowa
Boone is a city in and the county seat of Des Moines Township, Boone County, Iowa, United States. It is the principal city of the 'Boone, Iowa Micropolitan Statistical Area', which encompasses all of Boone County. This micropolitan statistical area, along with the 'Ames, Iowa Metropolitan...
and is named after Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
amateur astronomer Erwin W. Fick.
History
Iowa State University’s original telescope and observatory, located northwest of Ames, was donated by the family of Milo Mather of Clarksville, IowaClarksville, Iowa
Clarksville is a city in Butler County, Iowa, United States, along the Shell Rock River. The population was 1,441 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Clarksville is located at 42°46'58" North, 92°40'11" West ....
, following his death in 1960. Mather was an accomplished amateur astronomer and mechanical engineering graduate (1907) of Iowa State. In 1970, the mirror from his telescope was reconditioned and used in a newly reconfigured telescope, also named after Mather, and installed in the Erwin W. Fick Observatory.
Iowa State built its present observatory southwest of Boone, Iowa, in 1970. The facility was named after Erwin W. Fick (1897-1975), an amateur astronomer and retired member of the U.S. Corps of Engineers from Davenport, Iowa. Though Fick had never been to Ames, let alone graduated from Iowa State, he set up a trust through the ISU Foundation to help support Iowa State’s observatory.
New imaging devices, such as the CCD (charge-coupled device) camera installed in 1990, and the short focal length of the telescope allow researchers to obtain wide-field views of the sky to very faint limits. Measurements gathered by the Mather telescope can be used to complement data obtained by larger observatories, which often sacrifice wide views for fine detail. Over the years, Iowa State researchers have used the Fick Observatory for a wide variety of studies, including stellar radial velocity observations, studies of ring galaxy collisions, and lunar occultation studies.
Equipment
- 0.6 meter Cassegrain reflector, Mather telescope
- 8.5-meter parabolic dish antenna, Radio telescope
- Meade 14-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope
- Meade 10-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope
- Two Meade 8-inch Cassegrain reflector telescopes