NOVAC member Geoff Chester, who recently retired from The U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) will talk about the mission of the USNO and his career highlights. The USNO performs an essential scientific role for the United States, the Navy, and the Department of Defense. Its mission includes determining the positions and motions of the Earth, Sun, Moon, planets, stars, and other celestial objects; providing astronomical data; determining precise time; measuring the Earth’s rotation; and maintaining the Master Clock for the United States.
A brief history of the NRO
USNO is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the country. It was established in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments. Its primary mission was to care for the U.S. Navy’s chronometers, charts and other navigational equipment.
In 1844, as its mission evolved and expanded, the Depot was reestablished as the U.S. Naval Observatory and was located on a hill north of where the Lincoln Memorial now stands in Washington’s Foggy Bottom district. For nearly 50 years significant scientific studies were carried out, such as speed of light measurements, the phenomena of solar eclipses, and transit of Venus expeditions. Publication of its annual American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac started in 1852 and continues to the present day. In 1877, using the recently-completed 26-inch Alvan Clark “Great Equatorial” refractor, astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Phobos and Deimos, the two satellites of Mars.
After years of suffering the increasingly deteriorating environment in Foggy Bottom the Observatory moved to its present location in upper Georgetown in 1893. Over the course of the next century USNO astronomers developed the instruments and techniques that made it what it is today: the world’s foremost authority in the fields of astrometry and precise time determination and distribution.
USNO is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and operates a dark-sky observing station near Flagstaff, Arizona (NOFS). It also has a small detachment activity, the Alternate Master Clock facility (AMC), located at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado Springs.
This is a virtual meeting – join virtually using Google Meet:
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/cbf-jusw-dsm
Or dial: (US) +1 252-344-1407 PIN: 937 923 741#
The online meeting will be available at 7:00 pm for participant open discussion. The general meeting starts at 7:30 pm and Geoff’s presentation wil start at 8:00 pm
Share your recent observing experiences and new astro gear with your NOVAC colleagues online starting at 7:00 pm!
Presentation Details
Talk Title: Geoff Chester presents his career highlights at the US Naval Observatory
Biography:
Geoff Chester has recently retired from his position as Public Affairs Officer and Historian after over 27 years at USNO. By a curious quirk of history, he is the great-grandson of the Observatory’s 15th Superintendent, Rear Admiral Colby Chester. Prior to coming to USNO he spent 19 years working in various capacities for the Einstein Planetarium at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum. He is a past president of the National Capital Astronomers, and is an active member of the American Astronomical Society, the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club, the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, DarkSky International, and the Alliance of Historic Observatories.
