An 1847 Merz and Mahler telescope got some love from a Missouri astronomy club and now local people can take a look at the stars they way scientists did the year Thomas Edison was born.   Fun fact - it operates with a falling weight clockwork mechanism, meaning that without any electrical power a mechanism inside the telescope turns at the exact same speed as the rotation of the Earth, keeping the object in the lens in view for up to 45 minutes.



Read this nifty science history piece at The Missourian.