Telescope (Comet Seeker)

Telescope (Comet Seeker)

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Description
A comet seeker is a refracting telescope with a relatively short focal length and a relatively wide field of view. This example was installed at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., around 1843, and came to the Smithsonian in 1966. New it cost $320. It has an achromatic objective of 3.9 inches aperture. The tube is wood with brass fittings, and measures 38 inches long. The inscription reads “Utzschneider und Fraunhofer / in München / ausgeführt von Merz u. Mahler.”
Joseph Fraunhofer was a German optician who worked in partnership with Joseph Utzschneider from 1815 until his death in 1826. Thirteen years later, this optical firm was sold to Merz u. Mahler, an instrument firm in Munich that specialized in astronomical instruments, and that remained in business, as such, until 1845.
Ref: Myles Jackson, Spectrum of Belief. Joseph von Fraunhofer and the Craft of Precision Optics (Cambridge, Mass., 2000).
Steven Dick, Sky with Ocean Joined. The U.S. Naval Observatory, 1830-2000 (Cambridge and New York, 2003), pp. 64-67.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
telescope
date made
ca 1840
maker
Merz u. Mahler
place made
Germany
Measurements
overall: 38 in x 4 3/4 in; 96.52 cm x 12.065 cm
overall: 38 in x 4 3/4 in; 96.52 cm x 12.065 cm
ID Number
PH.327700
catalog number
327700
accession number
283654
Credit Line
U.S. Naval Observatory
subject
Astronomy
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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