"Star Gazing": 150 years of astronomy at the University of Michigan
Expeditions
Astronomers travel a lot to find favorable locations to observe astronomical phenomena, and the faculty of the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy are no exception.
Camp established at Cartwright, Labrador to observe
the solar eclipse of 1905. Heber Doust Curtis Papers,
Box 1, Folder: "Eclipse Expedition, 1905- Cartwright,
Labrador".
James Craig Watson, for his part, participated in numerous expeditions and the U.S. government appointed him astronomer-in-chief for the 1874 expedition to Peking, China to observe the transit of Venus. In his trips he was often accompanied by his wife, who acted as recorder for her illustrious husband.
Lick Observatory expedition to Egypt, 1905.
Hussey Family Papers, Box 10, Folder:
"Photographs- Miscellaneous".
In the summer of 1905, William Joseph Hussey went to Egypt in charge of the Lick Observatory expedition to observe the total solar eclipse. Between 1911 and 1916, Hussey acted as Director of the LaPlata Observatory in Argentina and divided his time between that institution and the University of Michigan.
LaPlata Observatory, Argentina, n.d. Meridian
circle, center front. Hussey
Family Papers, Box 10, Folder: "Photographs
LaPlata Observatory
Hussey also initiated the construction of an observatory in Bloemfontain, South Africa. He and his friend Robert P. Lamont intended to establish an observatory to catalog double stars, which requires observation from both a north hemisphere and a south hemisphere location. In October 1926, as the Lamont-Hussey Observatory was nearing completion, Hussey died in London on his way to South Africa.
Heber Doust Curtis standing in front of equipment,
Sumatra eclipse expedition, 1926 or 1929. Heber
Doust Curtis Papers, Box 1, Folder: "Eclipse
Expedition, 1926 - Beukoelen and 1929 - Takengon".
Heber Doust Curtis went three times to Sumatra (in 1901, 1926 and 1929) on eclipse expeditions. In letters to his family, Curtis explained how challenging and exciting these trips to Sumatra were. In a November 28, 1925 letter (Heber Doust Curtis Papers, Box 1, Folder:"Correspondence, 1925"), Curtis recalls the harrowing trip to the isolated village of Beukoelen, the site of the eclipse camp. His wife was the first to be struck by the "5-day fever", a mysterious fever that affected almost every member of the expedition. The weather was hot and humid, the terrain mountainous. However, in Beukoelen they found accomodations that were"finer than we had imagined in our wildest dreams". Unable to accomodate the influx of astronomers in the local hotel, the little cityhad assigned their visitors to various houses as paying guests. Their long stay in Beukoelen was marked with social events with local officals and a party of German astronomers whohad also come to observe the eclipse. The climax of the stay was a party organized by local officials after the successful completion of eclipse observations.
Gerlach, Nevada expedition, 1930 to observe the
solar eclipse. Curtis' wife (center right) and his son,
nicknamed "Binks"
(Far right) were present.
Observatory Records, Box 16, Folder: "Eclipse
Expedition, 1930 - Gerlach, Nevada".
Curtis also headed the Allegheny Observatory Eclipse Expedition to Gerlach, Nevada in 1930 and conducted a party to Freiburg, Maine, to observe the total solar eclipse of August 31, 1932.
Heber Doust Curtis at Fryeburg, Maine to observe
the total solar eclipse, 1932. Observatory Records,
Box 16, Folder:"Eclipse Expedition to Fryeburg,
Maine, 1932".
Such expeditions were often expensive events requiring important logistics. They could lead to significant scientific publications, but they were not always successful. Watson's trip to China resulted in a wealth of scientific data that was published in Observations of the Transit of Venus, December 8-9, 1874. But for the total solar eclipse of January 24, 1925, Hussey made plans to observe it from a balloon in Geneva, New York. $4,000 were spent in preparation, but high winds and lack of open space for filling and taking off prevented the flight of the balloon, while clouds prevented participants from making observations. In anticipation of the January 14, 1926 eclipse in Boenkoelen, Curtis and his colleagues placed bets on the weather. In the tropics, storm were unpredictable and struck very fast. Fortunately, on "D-Day", the sky was clear and the astronomer returned to the United States with a wealth of data and photographs from their observations (Heber Doust Curtis Papers, Box 1, Folder: "Correspondence, 1926").
This departmental history section of the exhibit was created February 2009
by Bentley Library graduate assistants Dominique Daniel, Rachael Dreyer, and Shannon Wait, University of Michigan School of Information.