Link Observatory & Space Science Institute

The Link Observatory & Space Science Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, especially children, about NASA space missions, astronomy, and space exploration. One of its goals is to inspire children to study the four STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. It is located a few miles south of Mooresville, Indiana off of Hwy 67.

The observatory was built in 1939 for Indianapolis surgeon Dr. Goethe Link. It was donated to the University of Indiana in 1948 and was used for astronomical research until 1980, when light pollution from the encroaching Indianapolis suburbs made research no longer feasible. During the 1950s-1960s the observatory became an important place for asteroid research. Towards the end of the 1960s, the asteroid program had produced 7,000 photographic plates and discovered 119 new asteroids along with many minor planets.

http://www.linkobservatory.org/observatory.html

Boomhower, Ray E. '"The Doctor and the Stars: Goethe Link and His Observatory," Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, v. 19, no. 4, Fall 2007, pp. 17–23.

Frank K. Edmondson, "Recent Developments at the Goethe Link Observatory," Sky and Telescope, December 1948, p. 34.

"Reports of Observatories, 1950-1951: Goethe Link Observatory, July 1, 1949 to June 30, 1951," The Astronomical Journal, v. 56, no. 6 (1951), p. 153, col. 2

Gehrels, Thomas (February 1958). "The Indiana asteroid program.". Astronomical Journal. 63: 50–50