Nature June 22nd 1876
According to the photographs taken daily at Montmartre by M.
Janssen , no spots have now been noticed on the Sun since March 25th.
At the last meeting of the Paris Academy, M. Leverrier announced that in
addition to the solar work to be carried out by M. Janssen in the new physical
observatory of Paris, M. Cornu has been appointed to make corresponding
searches in the National Observatory.
Charles Pritchard FRAS (1808-1893) Hurst Hill on the Isle of Wight purchased from Thomas Cooke & Sons in 1865 an equatorial mounting for his Cooke telescope. I can only assume he wanted to upgrade the mounting for the telescope he had .
In the late 1850s Pritchard had purchased from Cooke & Sons a 6.75 inch telescope.
Pritchard was elected Savilian professor of Astronomy at Oxford University in 1870.
In 1882 he undertook the study of the brightness of 2,784
stars, this was an important project at
the time and for this work he was presented with the Gold Medal of the Royal
Astronomical Society in 1886.
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Nature June 8th 1876
Regular courses of lectures have been established at the Naval Observatory, Montsouris, for the officers of the French National navy attached to the establishment. The general principals of astronomical observations are lectured upon by M. Loewy; Special Naval methods, by Capt. Turquet, the Director of the establishment; Terrestrial Magnetism, by M. Marie Davy, Director of the Montsouiris Observatory. Spectroscopy, by MK. Cornu; Photography in its application to astronomy, by M. Angot, of the National Observatory of Paris.
All the observations made by the pupils are submitted to
correction, and will be utilised as far as possible for the improvement of the Connaissance des
Temps.
If you think of Worcester Sauce you may think of Lea & Perrins, what you might struggle to find is a link with astronomy. However in 1867 James Dyson Perrins (1823-1887) purchased a 3.25 inch educational telescope from Thomas Cooke & Sons York.
James Dyson Perrins was the son of William Henry Perrins who joint founded the company in 1837 with John Wheeley Lea. He would help run the company after the death of his father.
James was keen to increase the educational institutions in Worcester. He also supported the Public Library and many charitable institutions in Worcester.
As is often the case I have no further information on what
happened to the telescope.
www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk
Nature June 1st 1876
The Observatory at Athens
The death is announced of Baron Simon von Sina, son of the
founder of the observatory at Athens, which has been under the direction of M
Bouris and Herr Julius Schmidt.
The deceased Baron is mentioned as a liberal patron of this
establishment, though not himself engaged in scientific pursuits, and Herr
Schmidt writes doubtfully of the future of the observatory.
Every astronomer will entertain the hope that this most
laborious and successful observer –
distinguished not only by his great work upon the Moon, but for his numerous
discoveries and observations of variable stars, his long and important series
of observations of comets, of short period and otherwise, in which he made
excellent use of the advantages of his southern position, and many other
valuable contributions to observational
astronomy – may continue to hold, under favourable auspices, the direction of
an establishment which his excerptions have made so honourably known in the
astronomical world.
www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk
Join me, Martin Lunn MBE every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the award-winning Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio, probably the only regular astronomy show on any radio station in the country.
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Algernon Peckover FRAS (1803-1894) was a banker from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, in 1864 he purchased a Thomas Cooke & Sons 5.5-inch telescope.
There were 5 astronomical eyepieces, and it came with a plain equatorial mounting. The cost was £130 (today 2026 that would be over £21,400).
In 1865 he purchased a driving clock for the equatorial
