Stargazing: 150 Years of Astronomy at the University of Michigan

History of the Astronomy Department

The University of Michigan Astronomy Department dates from the early years of the University. The 1843 General Catalog lists Astronomy as a junior-year, third-term course, taught with Denison Olmstead's (astronomer teaching at Yale) Astronomy text.

University of Michigan Course Catalog, 1843-44

University of Michigan Course Catalog, 1843-1844.
Click here for larger.

Looking at the course offerings for the 1843-44 academic year, it becomes clear that even before an instructor was hired to teach the subject, the course was offered, an indication of the contemporary scientific importance placed on the study
of astronomy.
Henry Fitz refracting telescope in dome of UM Detroit Observatory.

Henry Fitz refracting telescope in dome of UM Detroit
Observatory,ca. 1870. From UM Photographs Vertical File.

Early astronomy course focused heavily on mathematical calculations, but as the department constructed the observatory and acquired observing equipment, and later in 1908, with the construction of additional classroom and student observatory space, students were expected to perform observations.

In a letter to the Board of Regents, Mark W. Harrington, director of the Observatory from 1879-1891, detailed equipment needed to provide students with adequate astronomy instruction:

"an equatorial with a 6 inch object glass, cost $1800
a transit instrument with 3 inch object glass, cost $1000
a chronometer required for use with instruments, cost $250
Total probable cost $3050. These are the instruments planned by
my predecessors and suitable for the instruction required."1

Dennison

Dennison Hall was built in 1963 as the departmental home of
physics and astronomy. From UM Photographs Vertical File.

The Astronomy Department continues to map out and contribute what is known about the universe. The Astronomy department conducts research in the following areas: computational astrophysics, cosmology (the origins of the universe), extragalactic (the study of objects outside of our galaxy), extreme astrophysics (the study of galactic extremes that can't be modeled on Earth), instrumentation (the design and construction of observational equipment), star and planet formation, and stellar populations (groups of stars sharing some kind of similarity). To learn more about current projects at the UM Astronomy Department, please visit their Research page.


Cerro Tololo

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in winter,Las Campanas, Chile.
From AURA Records, Box 16.

Currently, the astronomy department operates several local observation sites: telescopes and an observatory in Angell Hall and a dark-skies observing site and radio telescope at Peach Mountain in Dexter, MI. The department also participates in partnerships that allow students and faculty to use high-powered visual telescopes in geographic regions and climates that are more conducive to visual observations. The University of Michigan participates with the Kitt Peak

Solar Observatory

Solar observatory at Kitt Peak National Observatory, an hour
awayfrom Tucson, AZ. From AURA Records, Box 16.

National Observatory and the Magellan Project, a consortium of academic institutions that operate telescopes at an observatory site in Las Campanas, Chile. Also in the vicinity of northern Chile is an observatory operated as the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), which is managed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Cerro-Tololo is one of the observatory sites supervised by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), which manages NOAO. Cerro-Tololo is the current home for a former Michigan telescope: the Curtis-Schmidt telescope from the University of Michigan's Portage Lake Observatory was relocated to the Cerro-Tololo site in 1966.
Portage Lake

Portage Lake Observatory, 1949
From UM Photographs Vertical File.

The Portage Lake facility, a few miles southwest of Pinckney, MI, was completed in 1950. Although located at a distance from the light pollution of growing Ann Arbor, Portage Lake still had to contend with a humid and freqently overcast Michigan climate.

Industrial pollution and cloudy, humid weather make Michigan a difficult area in which to perform astronomical observations that require high visibility. However, climate and light pollution do notnegatively impact radio telescopes, which the department operates at Angell Hall, as well as Peach Mountain. The Angell Hall radio telescope was constructed in 2001, and is a smaller instrument, measuring approximatelyseven feet in diameter. In contrast, the Peach Mountain radio telescope dates from 1958, and is a larger instrument, 85 feet in diameter. Michigan astronomers have clearly made the most of the limitations of their location.

Starting with no dedicated faculty member in 1843, only a course textbook, the UM Astronomy department has grown to encompass 16 faculty members, in addition to professors from other departments who teach related courses such as physics. Henry Philip Tappan's visions and efforts to establish a pre-eminent astronomy department and observatory appear to have been prophetic.

1. Mark W. Harrinton to the University of MichiganBoard of Regents, n.d. Observatory Records, Box 7, "Communication tothe Board of Regents." Bentley Historical Library, University ofMichigan.

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This departmental history section of the exhibit was created February 2009 by Bentley Library graduate student assistant Rachael Dreyer, University of Michigan School of Information.