A new and revolutionary telescope is being installed in the Oak Ridge Station of the Astronomical Observatory, the University announced recently.

The telescope, shortly to be in operation, will be named the Jewett Memorial Telescope for James R. Jewett, Professor of Arabic, Emeritus, and his late wife, Margaret Weyerhauser Jewett. A substantial gift from Professor Jewett has made possible the construction of the instrument at this time.

A unique feature of this new Jewett Reflector telescope is to be found in the manner in which it is housed; the entire building revolving on a special concrete base. Usually only a top of turret or dome rotates on tracks supported by a non-rotating building. The Jewett Reflector rotating building is twelve-sided and is insulated with homosote. Construction was under the direct supervision of Dr. George Z. Dimitroff, superintendent of the Oak Ridge station.

Optical Parts Completed

The optical parts of the telescope have just been completed. They consist of a 33-inch spherical mirror, and correcting plate of 24 inches diameter. This important type of telescope was invented about ten years ago by Bernard Schmidt, of Hamburg, Germany, and to date the Jewett telescope is the largest to be put into operation. Construction of larger telescopes of this type was recently started for the Boyden Station of Harvard Observatory at Bloemfontein, South Africa, and at the Palomar Observatory of the California Institute of Technology.

This new type reflector, it was explained, combines the advantages of the reflecting telescope and of the large-field photographic refractor. If both refracts and reflects. Ordinary reflecting telescopes cover satisfactorily only a fraction of one square degree of the sky at a time, but the new Jewett Reflector can cover from ten to a hundred square degrees, depending on the properties chosen for optical parts and mechanical parts. It is particularly effective for surveys of the distribution of galaxies and stars, variations of stars, and other problems where a large coverage and high speed are essential.

Unusual Features

The mounting for the telescope is of the two-pier type, but the special nature of the Schmidt-type reflector has made it necessary to include several unusual features. Construction is being super-intended by Mr. Herbert E. Hanson of the observatory staff. Except for the polar axis and counterweights, the mounting is of Dowmetal,--probably the first telescope mounting ever made of this specially light and strong magnesium alloy. The Dow Chemical Company, of Midland, Mich., cooperated in providing the difficult castings necessary for both the telescope tube and mounting.

The new Jewett Reflector is considered one of the three or four most important telescopes of the twenty-five in regular use at the Harvard Observatory, and in some ways, because of its unusual adaptability, the most important. It will greatly extend the survey of external galaxies in the northern hemisphere. Observatory officials believe that perhaps a million galaxies will be within its range.