About The Watson Telescope at HALO
The Watson scope is a 12-inch, F6.0 Newtonian on a German equatorial mount. It was built in 1937 by Joseph Woods, a machinist in Baltimore, with optics coming from The Fecker Company in Pittsburgh, PA. Although its optical and mechanical configuration is not unusual, it has a unique heritage, and its performance surpasses the capabilities of most modern mass-produced telescopes due to the precision of the components and the craftsmanship/attention to detail of its construction.
This telescope was the primary instrument used by Paul Watson, who worked as a curator at the Maryland Academy of Science observatory and as a director at the Davis Planetarium for 25 years. It was located on his property overlooking the Magothy River in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and used to study deep-sky objects.
In 1988, the telescope was gifted to HAL’s predecessor organization by the Estate of Paul S. Watson and painstakingly refurbished to become the main instrument within the HAL Observatory at Alpha Ridge at the observatory’s grand opening on July 25, 2015. In 2018, it was replaced by the Illig refractor, whose features enabled more-effective public outreach, but given the Watson scope’s beauty and heritage, it was kept within the HAL Observatory and pier mounted as a showpiece.
Watson Telescope Detail and Restoration History
As described in HAL’s history, our organization was entrusted with a telescope from the estate of Paul S. Watson, long-time curator of astronomy at the Maryland Academy of Sciences.
The telescope was constructed by Jospeph Woods entirely of custom-machined pieces. As a professional instrument, its optical and mechanical accuracy rivaled the best telescopes of its day. To bring this telescope completely up to modern standards, the orignal mechanical “clock drive” was replaced with an electronic tracking mechanism. However, the original clock drive was an amazing device for its day.
Optical accuracy also rivals the best current telescopes. Optical testing in 2005 revealed the 12-inch primary mirror to be accurate to within 1/12th the width of a wave of light.
Photos of Paul Watson’s Original Home for the 12″ Telescope near the Magothy River
Click thumbnails for full sized photos
Photos of the Watson Scope Before Restoration
The photos below show the initially removal of the scope from the Watson dome and its disassembly.
Watson Restoration Photos Step-by-Step
In its original home the telescope was covered by black paint, in an effort to minimize reflections of stray light. Unfortunately, this masked its many beautiful surfaces, including extensive brass, and even some copper. After the telescope was disassembled in 1988, BAS members removed the black paint from the individual pieces and painted all non-brass surfaces a light blue. In 2005, HAL members completed the restoration process and reassembled the telescope.
July 23, 2005 Session
August 20, 2005 Session
November 20, 2005 Session
March 2011 - Company Seven Motorized Drive Installation and Refurb
Many thanks and mega-kudos to Marty and team at Company Seven for performing the tasks listed below so that we are ready to mount the Watson Telescope as soon as the observatory construction is completed. (Photos below text.).
- Full cleaning, repairing, and refurbishing of the mount
- Lap and adjust drive gears
- Repair broken tooth on main drive gear
- Repair right ascension tangent arm assembly
- Remove, replace, and repair non-operational hand knobs and shafts
- Provide 120v AC powered synchronous drive system to provide object tracking
- Motor can accept an optional third party Drive Corrector to modify the tracking rate (for Solar, etc.)
