Actor Leonard Nimoy visiting the Clark Telescope with Carolyn Shoemaker during a 1998 film shoot. Courtesy of the Lowell Observatory.

(…) “The Clark Telescope is a national treasure and is Lowell Observatory’s first research telescope,” said Lowell director Jeff Hall. “Last year, we celebrated first light of our newest eye on the sky, the Discovery Channel Telescope, which will carry us through several more decades of astronomical discoveries, as the Clark did in the early days of Lowell. That makes it an appropriate time to look back and ensure that this telescope that started it all — a lovely old refractor in the wooden dome overlooking Flagstaff — is restored and maintained for the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Mars Hill who will look through it in the future.” 

 The renovation project is supported in large part by major donations from the Toomey Foundation for the Natural Sciences and by the late Joseph N. Orr. A successful crowd-sourcing effort also raised significant support, and the observatory is still accepting donations to complete the work.

Source:photonics.com

Our January 1st Marquee Comic, Movie Poster, & Pop Culture Auction features a very unique collection of vintage photographs from some of the earliest Star Trek conventions ever held. The original photographs & photographic negatives are being sold, which would give reproduction rights to whoever wins the pictures!

Above, you can see Leonard Nimoy double-fisting the Vulcan Salute to the crowd during the International Star Trek Convention (ISTC) in 1975.

These pictures were originally taken by the event photographer & staff member, Jeff Maynard.

Click Here to view the full auction catalog!