Two bids for Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, are being considered by the University of Chicago. In selling, the university wants to ensure that the century-old observatory is preserved, preclude development that would be undesirable to the neighbors, and get the highest possible price. Some 79 acres of land are to be included in the sale.

When the observatory opened in 1897, its 40-inch refractor was among the most powerful telescopes in the world. The observatory is of tremendous historical value, says Robert Fefferman, Chicago’s dean of physical sciences. “People like [Edwin] Hubble and [Subrahmanyan] Chandrasekhar worked there.” The request for proposals says that “Yerkes is no longer a major astronomical research facility and is therefore no longer central to the University of Chicago’s primary mission of research and teaching.”

Aurora University, which has a campus adjoining the Yerkes land, is offering $4.5 million for the observatory. To finance...

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