plans to develop box stores and apartments next to the observatory. This light pollution will certainly disable the observatory. Volunteers and staff are looking to the Delaware and Columbus residents to voice their opinion to the Delaware zoning commission to keep this from happening and to preserve what view of the heavens the observatory has now. The 69-inch Perkins of 1931 The 69-inch Perkins was the 3rd largest telescope in the World when it came online in 1931. Contemporaries at first light In 1961 the telescope was moved out from Perkins Observatory, and eventually the 69 inch mirror was put in a museum. The 69 inch was replaced with a new 72 inch mirror in the 1960s, which is why it was later called the 72 inch Perkins, not the 69 inch. It was featured in a telescope exhibit at one point, but was eventually walled in a closet and thus not available for viewing. The mirror was returned to Perkins observatory by 1999, and was put on display. The mirror was the first large mirror cast in the United States and probably the third largest telescope mirror in the World when it came into use in 1931. The mirror blank weighed 3000 pounds and was cast in 1927 by the United States Bureau of Standards. It needed 8 months to cool properly. The Perkins telescope, with the 72 inch mirror, was sold to Lowell Observatory in 1998. The evolved version of the Perkins is located at Anderson Mesa in Arizona, where it is now used by that Observatory and other universities. See also List of astronomical observatories List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century References External links Perkins Observatory Website Columbus Astronomical Society Website History of the Student Observatory Perkins Observatory Clear Sky Clock Forecast of observing conditions. Astronomical observatories in Ohio Ohio Wesleyan University buildings Tourist attractions in Delaware County, Ohio Education in Delaware County, Ohio