The world’s largest refractor for more than a decade, the 26-inch Great Equatorial Telescope of the United States Naval Observatory saw first light on 20 November 1873. Made by Alvan Clark & Sons of Cambridgeport,  Massachusetts, the telescope has had a distinguished career. It was with this instrument in August 1877 that astronomer Asaph Hall discovered the two moons of Mars. In 1893, the telescope was relocated from Foggy Bottom to its present site on Observatory Hill in Washington, DC. It is still in use today.

The inspiration for my quilt was a wood engraving from a newspaper story celebrating the work of the telescope. The print shows astronomer Simon Newcomb (at the eyepiece) and Superintendent Rear Admiral Benjamin F. Sands (standing) in the dome with the brand new telescope in late fall 1873. The engraving was based on a photograph of the same scene.

Reproduction 19th-century fabrics give the quilt a period feel. The tube of the telescope and the astronomers’ garments are shaded by fabrics with stars.

This quilt was my first quilt to be published.  It has been displayed at the Whistler Museum in Lowell, MA and at the USNO's historic library.