USC, State Museum acquire astronomy collection

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina native who made astronomy a lifelong passion has donated his collection of historic telescopes and astronomy documents to the University of South Carolina and State Museum.

Robert Ariail (AIR’-ee-el) said Tuesday he donated his more than 200 astronomy instruments and 5,000 documents because he wanted to keep his collection intact. It includes 63 telescopes spanning 300 years and the first printed star atlas printed in 1540.

Museum education director Tom Falvey says the museum plans to display all of the telescopes in a 4,000-square-foot exhibit set for completion in 2013. The current display has about 20 telescopes.

Falvey says the donation includes the world’s largest public collection of American-made Alvan Clark telescopes.

The university library will house the documents, which will eventually be accessible online.