McCormick Observatory

The McCormick Observatory is an astronomical observatory of the University of Virginia and ( therefore which also bears the name of Observatory Hill ) is located in Charlottesville, Virginia ( USA) on the summit of Mount Jefferson.

It is named after Leander J. McCormick, who donated much of the funds for the telescope and the dome. The observatory was completed in 1885 and had one of the largest refractors of that time with a diameter of 65 cm, made by Alvan Clark & ​​Sons, an improved variant of Twins in the U.S. Naval Observatory. The dome with a diameter of around 15 meters was designed by Warner and Swasey.

The scientific investigations have focused on the distance determination of stars by the parallax method, in this way thousands of stars were measured. The observatory is now used for training and to make astronomy to a wide audience.