Another picture of Yerkes from the air, from the other side of
the building (and in a different season!). Geneva Lake is behind you
in this view.
Here is another
picture of Yerkes; the Lake is still behind you.
This is the dome
that houses the famous 40-inch refractor,
the dome on the left of the picture above. Since this telescope is the
largest refractor
in the world, it stands to reason that this
is one of the biggest domes ever built; the dome itself is 90 feet
in diameter and weighs 120 tons. There is a
slit in the side of the dome that can be opened to allow the telescope
to see out; the slit is 11 feet wide and 85 feet long.
This dome houses
a 40-inch reflector, and it is
referred to as "the 41-inch" to distinguish it from the 40-inch
refractor.
This is the
41-inch again, and if you look closely, you can see that the slit is
open. (The researchers working on
the 41-inch were preparing to test some instrumentation
on the evening this picture was taken.)
This is another picture of the 41-inch with an open slit -- it
was taken by one of the researchers on another evening.
A colorful view of the 41-inch dome (taken from the 40-inch dome).
The Observatory has two entrances which boast tremendous
architectural detail. Here, as in the above photographs we are
continuing to look north. Note the ornate
architecture; you can visit another page here that has
some close-ups of some of the details.
Similarly, the front door is quite ornate.
This is what Yerkes
looks like in the winter. It gets cold -- it's Wisconsin!
To continue the tour, you can either
look more closely at the architectural details
or go inside the Observatory.
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