2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope | What Are Astronomers Doing?

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2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope

The 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope dome.
The 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope. Telescope movie (873Kb)
The control room of the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope.

Completed in 1938, the Struve Telescope is McDonald Observatory's oldest. It is named in honor of the Observatory's first director.

For more than a decade after its construction, this telescope's great primary mirror was second in size only to the 100-inch at Mount Wilson, California. The mirror required four years to be ground and polished. Its light-gathering power is 150,000 times greater than the human eye.

The telescope remains in heavy demand today, thanks to continued modernization and improved instruments.

With its heavy steel mounting and black, half-open framework, the Struve is considered by some to be the Observatory's most beautiful telescope. The building that houses the telescope also had living and sleeping quarters for visiting astronomers. These quarters were used in the early days of McDonald Observatory and have since been converted into offices and libraries.

Telescope Facts
Primary Mirror
Diameter
2.08 meters (82 in.)
Weight
1900 kg (4200 lbs.)
Thickness
29.8 cm (11.75 in.)
Material
Pyrex

Telescope Tube
Diameter
2.64 m (8ft. 8 in.)
Length
8.2 m (27 ft.)

Telescope weight
45 tons

Dome
Diameter
19 meters (62 ft.)
Weight
115 tons

Design
Construction started
1933
Construction completed
1939
Telescope contractor
Warner and Swasey Company
Dome contractor
Warner and Swasey Company
Optics
C. Lundin

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