Latitude
by William E. Carter and Merri Sue Carter
In 1891 Seth Carlo Chandler was granted an LLD degree by DePauw University, which is located in Greencastle, Indiana. In return for this honor, the Chandler family donated his Almucantar to the McKim Observatory. Unfortunately the Observatory fell into disrepair in the 1950's. The Observatory was restored and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, but by then the Almucantar had disappeared!

We hope to find the Almucantar, arguably the most historically important American astronomical instrument built in the late 19th century, and relocate it to a place where it can be placed on public display for future generations.


A free autographed copy of the book "Latitude", as well as designation on our web site as "Our Hero" will be awarded to the first person who can provide information leading to the current whereabouts of Chandler's Chronodeik, Small Almucantar, or Full sized Almucantar. (A second full sized Almucantar was built for Charles H. Rockwell of Tarrytown, New York. The whereabouts of that instrument is also unknown!) Please help locate these important instuments by sending any information you may have to Bill & Merri Sue Carter