RENO, Nev. (AP) - A research-quality telescope that was the passion of an amateur astronomer and housed in a cabin above Lake Tahoe has been donated to the University of Nevada, Reno's Redfield Campus.

An observatory, including the 22-inch Celestron telescope and dome, was removed by crane Tuesday from within a cabin at Incline Lake near the Mt. Rose summit.

The cabin had been the home of the MacLean family, which lived at the Sierra lake year-round. The observatory is the legacy of amateur astronomer Gordon MacLean.

Family members say he built the observatory in the 1970s.

But the property around the lake is being acquired by the U.S. Forest Service, and the cabins are being razed.

The telescope will undergo renovations before being permanently installed on the Redfield campus in southwest Reno.

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