This collection consists of the central file for the HUT and documents the technical history of the construction of the actual flight artifact. The six cubic feet of material includes drawings as well as the following types of project documentation: project outlines, progress and status reports, memorandums, summaries, schedules, and proposals.
Biographical / Historical:
The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) project was conceived, designed, and built by astronomers and engineers at John Hopkins University to perform astronomical observations in the far-ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelengths of light that are inaccessible to ground-based telescopes. HUT's primary purpose was to observe wavelengths of light that are too short to be seen with the Hubble Space Telescope, although overlap was provided to allow direct comparison. The telescope flew twice aboard the space shuttle, once in December 1990 and again in March 1995, as part of a package of instruments called the Astro Observatory. HUT has been used to observe hundreds of objects, including stars, planets, and quasars. The HUT was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 2001 and is currently part of the Explore the Universe Exhibition.
General:
The history of the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) for this record was taken in part from the John Hopkins website at http://praxis.pha.jhu.edu/hut.html.
Provenance:
Johns Hopkins University, Gift, 2002
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
This collection consists of the observatory postcards gathered by Dr. David DeVorkin as part of the Explore the Universe exhibit.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the postcards gathered by Dr. David DeVorkin as part of the Explore the Universe exhibit. Postcards from the following observatories are included: Allegheny; Arecibo Radio; Berlin-Treptow; Cambridge University, UK; David Dunlap; Dominion Astrophysical; European Southern; Green Bank Radio Telescope; Griffith; Harvard-SAO; Jodrell Bank; Keck; Kitt Peak National; Lick; Mauna Kea; McDonald; Mount Wilson; Palomar; Potsdam Astrophysical; Royal Observatory Greenwich; Vassar College; Very Large Array; and Whipple-MMT. The collection also contains CDs containing digital surrogates of the postcards, which were scanned by NASM staff or volunteers.
Arrangement:
Arranged by Observatory.
Biographical / Historical:
The National Air and Space Museum's (NASM) Explore the Universe exhibit shows how ideas about the Universe evolved as new astronomical instruments were developed. It presents the Universe as discerned by the naked eye, then shows how the telescope, photography, spectroscopy, and digital technology revolutionized our view. The largest section describes what astronomers today think about the nature of the Universe. As part of this exhibit, curator Dr. David DeVorkin, collected astronomical observatory postcards from the public. Some of the postcards were featured in the exhibit as well as the associated NASM website.
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Provenance:
NASM Space History Department, Transfer, 2018, NASM.2018.0060
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
4.58 cu. ft. (4 record storage boxes) (1 tall document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Brochures
Clippings
Digital versatile discs
Electronic records
Floppy disks
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
1980-2014
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records created and maintained by David H. DeVorkin, Curator, 1981- , documenting a variety of topics including educational and public programming
related to exhibitions; collections management and loans; lecture series; and the Albert Einstein Planetarium. Particularly well-documented are educational aspects of the
"Explore the Universe" exhibition; the return of loaned objects after the closure of the Stars Gallery; the "Exploring Space" lecture series; and the Curator's Choice Program.
Materials include correspondence, memoranda, reports, procedures, planning documents, collection rationales, teacher guides, brochures, flyers, loan files, object information,
images, surveys, specifications, proposals, budgets, meeting materials, clippings, and related materials. Some materials are in electronic format.
