Word: moonwatch
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...satellite will not be tracked by radio alone. Optical observations are needed to chart the orbit accurately, and the satellite moves so fast that the big, slow-moving telescopes of professional astronomers have little chance of holding it for long. So teams of amateur astronomers, organized into "Operation Moonwatch," will spot the satellite with widefield, low-power, low-cost telescopes...
...Star. Two Moonwatch teams near Washington have already had live practice. At Springfield, Va. 20 observers arranged themselves after dark under an odd-looking "T" of iron pipe with dim lights glowing at the ends of its horizontal member. The T showed the meridian, and the observers trained their telescopes so that their overlapping fields covered a north-and-south slice of sky through which the satellite should pass...
...plumber's-helper satellite (cost: $2.50) was so successful that 100 of them are being assembled by the Air Force and Navy for use by Moonwatch teams across the country. Like the elaborate Minitrack stations, the teams will prepare for the day when the satellite is wheeling through space and any shred of news about it will be important...
...Moonwatch stations also become important in the last stages of a satellite's flight, when it begins to drop out of its orbit. If the density of the atmosphere were perfectly known, this orbit too could be figured out by the computing machines. But since it is not, data returned by the observers of the falling satellite will be used instead...
...Whipple, the Director of the Smithsonian, is Professor of Astronomy, while Hynek, the Associate Director in charge of the tracking program, is Visiting Professor of Astronomy. This is the sort of cooperation envisioned when, in May 1955, it was announced that the Smithsonian was moving its headquarters to Cambridge.Special MOONWATCH telescope provides a 12 1/2 degree field with impressive image brightness, and magnifies 55 times. The parts cost less than $20 and can be put together by a skilled amateur. The optical parts are war-surplus material and can be obtained from supply houses. Special teams equipped with these monoculars...