HARVARD TO BUILD NEW ASTRONOMICAL STATION NEXT YEAR

Harvard will build a new astronomical observing station, to be the most extensively equipped in the East, at the highest point between Mount Wachusett and the sea, on Oak Ridge, Harvard, Massachusetts, 27 miles northwest of Cambridge. Actual construction will begin early in the spring, according to the announcement made yesterday afternoon by Dr. Harlow Shapley, director of the Harvard College Observatory.

The new site for the Harvard Observatory has been made imperative through the decision that the northern-hemisphere station should be equipped with a large reflecting telescope, comparable to the one which is just being completed for the southern station in South Africa.

Oak Ridge Superior

A dozen possible sites were examined by the Harvard astronomers during the past six months, but the Oak Ridge station has proved to be superior to any other in Eastern Massachusetts. The land comprises more than thirty acres of woodland, the woods being a desideratum in providing a protection against wind, dust, and stray light from neighboring villages, farmhouses, and highways. It was given to the University by Mr. and Mrs. Alfred C. Fuller of Belmont.

It is estimated that telescopic power will gain, on Oak Ridge, a whole magnitude beyond that obtainable at the present site in Cambridge. This difference in brightness corresponds to a doubling of the number of stars within the reach of the various photographic telescopes.

Equipment

At this station the new Harvard 60-inch reflector telescope, the largest astronomical instrument in the East, will be the most important part of the equipment; but five or six of the Observatory's other photographic telescopes will also be moved from Cambridge to the country. Four other photographic telescopes and the visual telescopes will be retained and operated at the present Cambridge headquarters on Observatory Hill.

The construction on Oak Ridge will include the building and turret for the 60-inch reflector, three buildings for the other telescopes, a central building containing dark room, clock room, working library, storage, and quarters for one or two observers. Two or three separate cottages will be constructed for those members of the staff who will remain permanently on the site.

The ridge, with an altitude of 600 feet, between the village of Harvard and the Littleton railroad station, commands an imposing view over the surrounding country, from Wachusett on the west and Monadnock and other New Hampshire mountains on the north to Boston and the Blue Hills on the southeast.

Offered Last Spring

The offer of the land was made by Mr. and Mrs. Fuller last spring when Dr. Shapley first officially announced the out-of-town site. The land lies on the Fuller country estate in Harvard.

In speaking of the gift of the site, Dr. Shapley said, "The general interest which Mr. and Mrs. Fuller have for long had in astronomy made them aware of the importance of the Oak Ridge site as a location for a big reflecting telescope. Their quick and generous offer to Harvard of their valuable tract has been a great satisfaction to all the members of the Observatory staff who are concerned with the operation of the new reflector."

Further plans for moving instruments to the new site are under way, and construction has already started on some of the work to be done at the new site. A road is being built at present on Oak Ridge, an artesian well is to be drilled in the near future, a detailed survey of the site is being made under the direction of Mr. Weld Arnold, of the new School of Geographical Exploration at Harvard, and the designs of the buildings are in the architect's hands.

Actual construction will begin in the spring. Some of the equipment will be moved out and systematically operated on the regular photographic observing programs before next July