The Telescope

Our telescope was custom-built by Ferson Optics in Ocean Springs, MS in 1967 for the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. It was Ferson's model 1216. The telescope was decommissioned by the Academy and donated by the U.S. Navy to the Morgan County Schools in 1993. Refurbished, repaired, and upgraded with funding raised by the Morgan County Observatory Foundation, it was placed back in operation in December 2001. It is a unique dual Cassegrain/Newtonian scope with a switchable secondary mirror and a 16-inch primary mirror composed of Zerodur. It weighs approximately 3,000 pounds and has a focal length in Cassegrain mode of 224 inches or an F/14 ratio. The Newtonian focus is 64 inches or F/4 ratio.

The value of the scope has been estimated at $500,000.00. The original cost of production was approximately $23,500 in 1967.

Ferson Optical made four 1216 telescopes. The U.S. Naval Academy received the first production run (This telescope now resides at the Greenwood School Community Center, Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, West Virginia). Colgate University, Hamilton, NY purchased one. St. Marks Academy, Dallas, Texas purchased one - currently being restored & moved to the Dallas Astronomical Society site in southern Oklahoma, and the last, at Werner Von Braun in Huntsville, Alabama - still in its dome but missing some parts & not functional, with optics said to be superb.

The location data credit to http://www.europa.com/~telscope/rfprmgng-pa.txt or text here Albert Ingalls and the Roof Prism Gang.txt

The Observatory

Located at 9047 Winchester Grade Road in Berkeley Springs, the observatory houses the Ferson Optics Telescope, a classroom and multiple portable telescopes for star and solar gazing. The MCOF also has recently obtained access to a portable planetarium.

A history of the planning and construction of the observatory