14. View south in the observing chamber, showing the original observing ladder equipment. This clever design allows for raising and lowering a viewer platform, and is shaped so that collisions with the telescope are avoided, yet it can also be moved up to the scope for maintenance activity.
MORE HISTORY: Everhart was also known for developing ingeneous, accurate and rapid algorithms for calculating comet and asteroid trajectories. He also performed Monte Carlo simulations for the effect of outer planets on families of comets and help provide a firmer basis for distinguishing the origins of short and long period comets, fundamental to our theory of the origin of the solar system.
In 1966, Everhart discovered the ninth, and brightest, comet of the year. On September 7th he called the Smithsonian Observatory with his find. He later told reporters that, "The professor who answered the phone wanted to know if I had ever seen a comet before. I said to him, 'Yes, I have seen a comet before, and I ought to be able to measure the position of one -- I'm a physics professor.'" An hour later, astronomers at the Smithsonian Observatory called Everhart back to congratulate him on his find, now known as Comet Everhart. Two years later, Everhart's confirmation of another comet, also found by a Japanese enthusiast, added Comet Ikeye-Everhart to the Professor's astronomical achievements.
Everhart moved to Colorado in 1969, in part because of the good "seeing" afforded by the high altitude. On becoming Director of Chamberlin, Everhart continued the tradition of public nights started by Recht. Everhart also taught a popular general astronomy course at DU. "I guess every professor is something of a ham," he told the school newspaper. "He likes to put on a show. You feel that you are doing something useful, making it entertaining as well as getting something across. You have to throw in a few jokes and a few whimsical ideas once and a while." One of these whimsical notions was offering his freshmen students 20 points of extra credit for discovering their own comet.
In 1970, Everhart established his own observatory near Bailey. Although this observatory was private, Everhart called it "Chamberlin Observatory's Field Station." At this field station, Everhart continued his work on cometary orbits. He was the first to recover comet d'Arrest, the same comet Recht had studied, in 1982, and likewise the first to recover comet Pons-Winnecke in 1983. During the Eighties, Everhart worked on developing new films and techniques for photographing comets. His 1985 photo of Halley's Comet appeared on the cover of Sky and Telescope magazine.
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