Friends of the Zeiss
Telephone:
412-561-7876
Electronic Mail: <
friendsofthezeiss@planetarium.cc
>
Internet Web Site:
< http://www.friendsofthezeiss.org
>
2004 November 26
Directors of the Board of
Directors
Children’s
10 Children’s Way -
Re: Construction activity
related to Buhl Planetarium Observatory
Dear Directors, Children’s
On November 6, in answer to a
question, Children’s Museum Executive Director Jane Werner told me that current
plans are to construct a new Board Room in the location of the original Buhl
Planetarium Observatory.
I was Coordinator of the Buhl
Planetarium Astronomical Observatory from 1986-1991. The Observatory housed a
rather unique instrument, a 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope, which
is the second largest, of its unique type, in the world. Further, unlike most
other observatories, during the colder weather Buhl’s Observatory permitted
families to view astronomical objects in a heated Observing Room, while the
telescope and “Siderostat” mirror remained in the unheated Telescope Room.
I know the Observatory space
very well. Friends of the Zeiss would ask that the Children’s Museum Board of
Directors reconsider converting this space into a Board Room for the following
reasons:
1) The Buhl Planetarium and
The Library/Board Room and the
Buhl Planetarium Observatory are roughly the same size. However, if it is felt
that more space is needed, the Buhl Planetarium Board Room could be expanded.
Such an expansion would cost much less than the conversion of
the Buhl Planetarium Observatory into a Board Room. This is due to the fact
that the Telescope Room receives no
building heat or air-conditioning (to prevent disruption of the
astronomical image, the Telescope Room was purposely built without heat or
air-conditioning). Conversion of the
Observatory into a Board Room would require the addition of building heat and
air-conditioning.
2) The Buhl Planetarium
Observatory was specially-designed as an Observatory, including a roll-away
roof, and two piers specially-designed to prevent vibrations in the
astronomical image (one pier holds the telescope while the other pier holds the
“Siderostat” mirror).
3) With the cancellation of
The Carnegie Science Center’s proposed $90 million expansion project, the
original Buhl Planetarium Observatory is now the only location which could
easily and inexpensively house an operating 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor
Telescope. Presently, this telescope is dismantled and in storage at The
Carnegie Science Center warehouse.
When retiring earlier this
year, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh President Ellsworth Brown told a
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter: "The possibility of a high-profile
expansion now at the science center is remote." So, any expansion of The
Carnegie Science Center, in the foreseeable future, would be small. Funding
limitations
Board of Directors,
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh 2004 November 26 Page 2 of 2
and/or the lower height of a
building addition would probably preclude the use of the 10-inch
Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope. And, this telescope cannot be mounted on
the current
With the conversion of the
Buhl Planetarium Observatory into a Board Room, it is possible, perhaps even
likely, that this telescope will never be used again, due to the rather unique
facility needed to house a Siderostat-type Telescope. The cost may be
prohibitive to recreate the Buhl Planetarium Observatory in another location.
Certainly, since cancellation of the
We understand that plans of
the current Children’s Museum management do not include the use of planetarium
or observatory equipment. We are asking that construction activity not preclude
the reinstallation of the 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope at some
future date. A future Children’s Museum management may wish to reinstall the
telescope for use. Or, if the Children’s Museum moves into a different building
decades from now, there may be an interest in reinstalling the 10-inch
Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope in the building.
Although much of the original
planetarium infrastructure was removed from Buhl Planetarium’s original Theater
of the Stars, the 65-foot diameter dome and the historic Westinghouse Worm-Gear
Elevator (Buhl was the world’s first planetarium to be placed on an elevator)
remain. Hence, it would not be a huge expense to reinstall the Zeiss II
Planetarium Projector sometime in the future.
We are asking that the
original Buhl Planetarium Observatory be maintained in a similar way, so
reinstallation of the 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope at a future
date could be accomplished without a huge expense.
Friends of the Zeiss
respectfully asks, and would appreciate, your kind consideration of this
matter.
Sincerely yours,
Glenn A. Walsh
Project Director
gaw
P.S. FYI -- As you may know,
astronomical observations require precise timing. As Coordinator of Buhl
Planetarium’s Astronomical Observatory, I also served as a timekeeper for Buhl
Planetarium, as I always keep my digital watch exact to the second, corrected
nearly every day using time signals from one of two shortwave radio stations:
WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado (operated by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce) or CHU, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
(operated by the National Research Council of Canada).
So, for the record, the ribbon-cutting of the
newly-expanded Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh took place on Saturday Morning,
November 6, A.D. 2004 at precisely
10:06:36 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
gaw
Copy: The Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Governor,
Bob O’Connor, Governor’s Representative in
Members, Board of Directors, Allegheny Regional Asset
District
Members of the Council of the City of
Jane Werner, Executive Director, Children’s
Members of Friends of the Zeiss
