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Although the Shattuck Observatory's 139-year-old telescope is too old to be used to conduct any significant research, students and members of the Stargazers club can still catch an occasional glimpse of a celestial object.
The telescope is far less powerful than the more modern 30-foot mirror telescopes used today and the frequently overcast skies of Hanover also prevent any extensive research at the observatory.
"I think the thing that's really striking about it is that even though we don't have this modern, state-of-the-art equipment, when we're looking through it, it's real light from real objects that you're seeing," said Astronomy Professor John Thorstensen, the director of the observatory.
Graduate stduents in Astronomy and Physics conduct advanced astronomical research about two times a year at the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT Observatory in Arizona, Thorstensen said.
"Classes just look at nice things in this observatory," Thorstensen said.