Friends of the Zeiss
Telephone:
412-561-7876
Electronic Mail: <
friendsofthezeiss@planetarium.cc
>
Internet Web Site:
< http://www.friendsofthezeiss.org
>
2004 November 12
Ms. Anne V. Lewis, President
Board of Directors
Children’s
10 Children’s Way -
Re: Construction activity
related to Buhl Planetarium Observatory
Dear Ms. Lewis:
On Saturday, 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.
As you may know, 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 and the Buhl
Planetarium Observatory are roughly the same size. Hence, there would be no
real advantage to converting the Observatory to a Board Room when Buhl
Planetarium’s original Board Room could be used by the Children’s Museum Board
of Directors.
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).
Note that the Telescope Room
was specifically-designed to receive neither
building heat nor air-conditioning, to prevent disruption of the astronomical
image.
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
Ms. Anne V. Lewis 2004
November 12 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: Jane Werner, Executive Director, Children’s
Bill Peduto, Chairman of the Committee on General
Services, Technology and the Arts,
Council of the City of
Members of Friends of the Zeiss