Tag: Georgetown College Astronomical Observatory (Georgetown DC)

Wikipedia says: The Georgetown University Astronomical Observatory (also the Heyden Observatory and Francis J. Heyden Observatory) was founded in 1841 by Father James Curley of the Department of Physics at Georgetown College. Father Curley chose a site on the college grounds, planned the building, and supervised its construction to its completion in 1844. Costs were initially paid by Rev. Thomas Meredith Jenkins, S.J., and Rev. Charles H. Stonestreet, S.J., who were Georgetown professors at the time. The observatory was used in 1846 to determine the latitude and longitude of Washington, D.C., which Curley determined to be latitude 38°54′26N and longitude 5h8m18.29s (west of Greenwich).

In 1850, Benedict Sestini used the observatory to make a series of sunspot drawings, which were engraved and published (44 plates) as “Appendix A” of the Naval Observatory volume for 1847, printed in 1853.