Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2016)
ASTRONOMICAL ART THE HAGGART OBSERVATORY SERVES AND EDUCATES ASTRONOMY LOVERS W ITHIN THE COMMUNITY BY TOM BOGGESS Haggart Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on campus at the John Inskeep Environmental Learning Center. j “ He was a very nice man who showed us things ’ about our universe that no one else could” - Jerry Herrmann Print FEBRUARY 24,2016 thedadom asprintœ m The Haggart Observatory dome is a m an made piece of art. Harold and Darcy Hag gart built it as part o f their hom e in .Or egon City on Redland Road. They poured the concrete for the center support one b u c k e t a t a tim e , a n d n e v e r le ft th eir house. The pole that supported the observatory was in their living room up through the floor and the roof. When the support was finished, the construction of the platform and dom e was Haggart’s next project. The round top dom e was hand crafted by Haggart h im self out o f the fuselage o f a B-17 Flying Fortress a World War II long range bomber. He bent, cut, shaped and crimped all o f the pieces to form the perfect “Dome Effect.” A narrow section of the dom e retracts so the telescope can take perfect aim at its celestial targets. Jerry Herrmann, founder and director of the Environmental Learning Center from 1974 to 1994, said, “When I was in the Cub Scouts as a boy, my troop and I went there oh a regular basis, as did Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, to o ,” he said. “He was a very nice man who showed us things about our universe that no one else could.” Haggart died in 1984 leaving m any sad friends, said Herrmann. Herrmann en listed the help o f Coast Crane Company, w hich volunteered the use o f one o f their huge cranes to lift the dom e from Haggart’s house and loaded it on a flatbed, w hich delivered it to the CCC cam pus. Haggart’s widow thought it would be easier to sell the house if the observatory was removed. Haggart’s original telescope w as sold to th e Oregon M useum o f Science and Industry, and during transit the secondary len se (mirror) was broken. The reflector mirror was so sophisticated that no one was able to duplicate it. The remains of the telescope are sitting at Fort Hancock, rusting away because no one, at the time, w as able to duplicate what Haggart had hand created. It has sat there for about 25 years. The n ew structure, w h ich Haggart’s original dom e sits on today, w as built by students and comm unity volunteers. The concrete was poured one bucket load at a tim e u ntil it w as 45 feet high. Coast Crane cam e back and hoisted it up onto th e new p latfo rm w here it rem ain s today. The new telescope, replacing H aggart’s o riginal b ro k en telescope, is a 2 4 - inch N ew tonian Reflector and one of th e larg est “ light b uckets” th a t Steven Swayze of P o rtlan d h as ever b u ilt. The huge te le scope is restin g on a 50 0 -p o u n d tu b e as sem bly th a t is a D obsonian style m o u n t. The Teflon “0 ” pads allow th e reflector to be moved by hand in a 360 degree m otion. H aggart’s O bservatory is located a t th e Inskeep E nvironm ental Learning Center. The open in g of th e telescope coincided w ith th e p a rtia l solar eclipse on M arch 7,1989. It w as used regularly u n til 1999 w h en it u n d erw en t a m ajo r ren o v atio n a t th e cost of $160,000, m ade p ossible by com m unity don atio n s. Two y e a rs la te r it w as re o p e n e d an d used regularly by stu d e n ts and th e com m u n ity o f a stro n o m y lovers. Today th e telescope is bein g ru n by Rose City A s tro n o m ers. It is o p en one day a m o n th for view ing, always close to a new m oon, if th e w e a th e r allows. • A stro n o m y te a c h e r Jam es D ickinson said, “My classes d o n ’t use th e observa tory because of th e lim itations of capacity and w e a th e r.” D ickinson elaborated by saying, “I give stu d e n ts in fo rm atio n about th e H aggart O bservatory and encourage th e m to a t te n d th e Rose C ity A stro n o m e rs’ p u b lic events. I also give th e m in fo rm atio n a b o u t o th e r R ose C ity s ta r p a rtie s an d o th e r o b se rv a to rie s th e y could v is it in O regon.” H errm an n said th a t h is organization, located h ere in C lackam as County, would like to include th e Oregon City cam pus in a to u r of O regon City an d o th e r sites th ro u g h th e E a rth C ru sad ers P rogram . It w ould also include th e Jo h n In sk eep E nvironm ental L earning C enter, H aggart O bservatory and lu n ch in our cafeteria. Steve W eiler, th e Vice P resident of Ob se rv in g fo r RCA, said, “ O ur n e x t p u b lic n ig h t a t H aggart O bservatory w ill be on Feb. 27 fro m 6 -9 p .m .” For m ore in fo rm atio n v isit th e RCA’s w ebsite: w w w .rosecityastronoQM rs.net
