Cooke Telescope Tales - Jupiter observed from Australia in 1896

BAA Journal May 1896

 

PRESENT  ASPECT OF JUPITER 

 I am glad to be able to report that observing conditions generally have been very good with us since the beginning of last month, and that at least one other member besides myself has taken advantage of the good seeing to make drawings of Jupiter. I am unfortunately divorced from my observatory for some months, but have with me in the country an excellent 5-in. Cooke altazimuth as well as accurate time. 

I have never hitherto prosecuted a careful and continuous study of the giant planet's surface, and confess to great surprise at the vast and rapid changes that become apparent. This especially struck me first in the case of the N. equatorial belt, the northern and equatorial components of which exhibited alternately dark masses and condensations, divided by white spots after intervals of only five Jovian rotations. On March 13 and 14 there were typical instances of this. 

On March 26, 20h 40m, G.M.T., a faint wisp across the equator, was conspicuous, and next night, March 28, 2h 20m G.M.T., was invisible, while the equatorial region near the c.m. showed considerable change. Definition excellent, 4 to 5 on both occasions, power 200. The N. temperate area, however, has puzzled me most, for the three belts often seen have varied much both in visibility and latitude, while with exquisite definition on April 1, at 0h 20m G.M.T., the following portion seemed overlaid with vapour of a sage green tint, and the belts (2) were only faintly visible in their preceding parts, 

The Red Spot has been well seen on several occasions of almond shape, the f. end slightly more pointed than the p. Its tint seemed uniform, and a very delicate brick red, like a faint stain. It is overlaid on the S. side by the S. temperate belt, which is closely double through nearly its whole extent, and f. from the centre of the Red Spot is much darkened and sinuous. The great spot's preceding end was estimated on c.m. at 1h 15m G.M.T., April 1, and the following end on c.m. at 21h 52m 36s G.M.T. of same date. In the transit of Satellite I. on February 22, observed at Waverley, near Sydney, with my equatorial, the shadow must have been occulted by the satellite, which is perhaps worthy of note.

 

 WALTE R F. GALE .

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - new telescope at Toulouse Observatory in 1875

 Nature November 4^th 1875

The Observatory at Toulouse has purchased a telescope of 85 cm diameter, and 5 metres focal distance, at a cost of 1,200 francs. M. Tissereand is head of the Toulouse Observatory.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - occultation of Antares observed from Australia in 1896

 BAA Vol 5 No 5 June 1895 

The papers upon the occultation of Antares, 1896, May 10, were next read by the Secretary. 

Mr. Tebbutt obtained excellent determinations of the times of disappearance and reappearance, which agreed very closely with the calculations of Mr. Joseph Brooks, and indicated the probable correctness of the adopted longitude of the Windsor Observatory and of the tabular places of the moon and star. Antares did not disappear instantaneously in Mr. Tebutt's observation, but seemed to cut its way into the moon's disk during two or three seconds, a peculiarity also noted by Mr. Merfield. 

Mr. Gale, on the contrary, using a 6 inch Cooke refractor, at Paddington New South Wales recorded the disappearance as instantaneous on contact with the limb. In spite of thick haze, the " comes " was also visible to within a few seconds of the limb, and was seen immediately on the reappearance of the larger star. Messrs. Innes, Wright, and Matthews had also observed the disappearance as almost instantaneous.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - rho Eridanus in the 1850s

Nature October 28^th 1875

Rho Eridanus

In the year 1850 the Late Captain Jacob calculated two orbits for this binary system, the second of which represents very fairly his subsequent measures to the end of 1857, a rather severe test for elements founded upon the data available in 1850.

We look in vain for measures later than Capt. Jacob’s though it may be hoped this and other interesting objects of the southern heavens have not been entirely neglected of late years. The public observatories are perhaps too closely occupied with other work to allow much being expected from them in a class of observation peculiarly  suited to the amateur astronomer, but there must be a grand field of operations for private observers, in southern double and variable star astronomy.

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The Astronomy show on Drystone Radio

 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. 

I will take my weekly look at the night sky and look at all the latest news in astronomy. There will be the astronomical anniversaries this week plus the latest news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio live online at www.drystoneradio.com DAB radio in Bradford and East Lancashire, or 102 and 103.5 FM and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

 

Cooke Telescope Tales - partial eclipse of the Moon in 1892

 The Partial Lunar Eclipse of May 11-12, 1892. By G. J. NEWBEGIN, F.R.A.S. 

The night of May 11-12 turned out so exceptionally clear and fine that (though in 16 ° of Declination) the moon soon became a steady object in the telescope. With regard to the eclipse I decided to take a series of photographs at about half-hour intervals, and to endeavour to secure a permanent record of its several stages. The exposures were made at 9.20, 9.50, 10.30, 11, 11.30 p.m., 12 o'clock midnight, and 12.30 a.m. The periods of exposure were varied, to allow for the decreasing illumination of the moon, viz. :— 20s 20s 30s 40s 30s 20s 20s respectively. 

The plates were the Ilford ordinary, developed by hydroquinone. The instrument by which they were taken is a 9-inch Cooke equatorial, aperture reduced to 2-inch for the whole series. The intervals between the exposures were occupied in developing the plates. 

Thorpe, Norwich, Nov. 11, 1892.

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A little ramble through Lynx

 A decidedly obscure constellation despite its size, it is the 28th largest of the 88 constellations. It was introduced by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687 to fill the gap between Ursa Major and Auriga. He named it Lynx because only the lynx eyed would be able to examine it.

Many of the stars that are in Lynx would have during the times of the Greek astronomer Arato (315-240 BCE) have been placed in Ursa Major the Great Bear.

Alpha magnitude 3.1 is an orange K class giant star lying at a distance of 203 light years, alpha has a magnitude of 3.1.

NGC 2419

Possibly the most distant globular cluster in our galaxy lying at a distance of 300,000 light years, it can be seen as a magnitude 9.1. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1788 and is often called the intergalactic wanderer because at first astronomers thought it was not part of our Milky Way galaxy, we know now that it is.

NGC 2419 would be the "best and brightest" for any observers in the Andromeda Galaxy, looking for globular clusters in our galaxy since it lies outside the obscuring density of the main disk.

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