A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The Nebulae in the Pleiades

 Nature October 7^th 1875

In No.5 of “Publicazioni del Reale Osservatorio di Brera in Milano”, Herr Tempel has laid down the stars from the Pleiades, from the Durchmusterung , and traced the outline of the nebula near Merope as it appeared to him with a magnifying power of twenty four on a telescope of four inches aperture. The outline is shown to be elliptical, one extremity of the longer axis, the northern one, at Merope, and the inclination of this axis to the circle of declination about 18 degrees, so that as referred to Merope, the angle of position of the longer axis is 198 degrees.

M Wolf, of the Observatory of Paris, observing with the telescope of 0.31m aperture  in March 1874, perceived two nuclei, one almost concentric with Merope, the other and brighter of the two at a distance of about seven seconds, on the same parallel, following.  From the month of November 1874 to the end of February 1875 the nebula could not be seen notwithstanding the very favourable atmospheric conditions, and at the same time M Stephan was unable to detect it with the telescope of 0.80m. M Wolf concludes that the nebula is certainly variable and that its period is pretty short.

Herr Tempel remarks that generally the nebula has been much more readily seen with small telescopes than with large ones, and doubt has been expressed as to any real variability of light; yet it is not easy to understand, except upon this supposition, why the nebula should be visible at certain times in a particular telescope and invisible at others, the circumstances of the sky appearing to be about the same in all cases.

The Nebula was first remarked by Herr Tempel at Venice on the 23rd of October 1859

                                              www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Paris Observatory opening times 1875

Nature September 2^nd 1875

M. Leverrier has published in the Paris papers a notice intimating that the Observatory will be opened for observations three times a week, from half past seven, weather permitting. Two large telescopes are placed at the disposal of visitors, who may procure a letter of admission by writing to the secretary of the observatory.

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Cooke Telescope Tales - Till robbery by Cooke worker in 1867

 York Herald, Saturday 16^th March 1867

 

Henry Petch of Market Street, York a mechanic of Messrs Cooke and Sons, was charged with stealing 2 shillings from a till in the George Inn Tap, Coney Street, York. On the previous evening the defendant entered the tap and asked for liquor. He was served, after which James Allen, the occupant of the place, went up stairs. When he came down, from certain suspicions he examined the till and found that a 2 shilling piece had been stolen. 

He went out to fetch a policeman upon which the prisoner,- who was the only person who had been in the place, ran away. He was found concealed in a corner in a yard behind the tap, and thence was taken away into custody. The prosecutor stated that he had been similarly robbed before, and his suspicions had fallen upon the prisoner as the thief. In defence the prisoner said he was innocent, and had only gone into the yard behind the tap for his convenience. 

The bench were of the opinion, however that he was guilty of theft, and sentenced him to be imprisoned in the House of Correction for 14 days. 

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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 - A new Clinometer in 1865

 York Herald Saturday 25^th November 1865

 

We (Bombay Builder) have had the pleasure of seeing a most compact and useful clinometer and manufactured by Messrs T Cooke & Sons London and York. 

We understand the government intends to issue them to the public works department; and we have every reason to believe that the instrument will be generally made use of by the railway and other professional men for trial work. 

A gentleman who has used the instrument says, “It is impossible to over rate the advantage of this instrument, A trial path, which would have required weeks to set out by chain and level as it would have been necessary to cut down the jungle and make platforms for the instrument to stand on, was marked out in a few days and with quite as much accuracy. 

The only mistakes that can arise are from the accidental slipping of one of the cross pieces, or from moving one of the radial arms of the instrument. It is only requisite to take a glance at the face of the instrument while the hand rests upon the cross piece, to ensure its accuracy. The ease and quickness with which the instrument was used made the marking out of the trail path a pleasure to the observer, who would feel like Pegasus deprived of his wings if he had to do another under similar circumstances with level and chain instead of clinometer. 

Note

A Clinometer is an instrument used to measure angles in particular the angle of a slope or incline

                                                   www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Unclaimed property on Railway in 1867

 Sheffield Daily Telegraph Saturday 16^th March 1867

 

Among the curious things connected with the business of railways are the variety and strange character of the unclaimed property which falls in to the hands of the railways as carriers of passengers and goods.

 

One person has left a very superior astronomical telescope in mahogany case complete, and it is now unclaimed. Where is its owner and what has he been doing to render himself unconscious of the loss he has sustained? Or has he abandoned the study of astronomy for the more prosaic and common occupations of the earth?    

                                                      www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A Little ramble through Lupus the Wolf

Lupus is often overlooked by observers because it is so close to the constellation of Scorpius and Centaurus. Although the term Lupus refers to a wolf, the Greeks and Romans regarded this constellation as an unspecified wild animal held by Centaurus as an offering to the gods. It appears to be during the renaissance period that the connection with the Wolf seems to have become the common term to use.   Lupus lies in the Milky Way so it is very rich in stars.

To the Euphrateans it was Zibu the Beast while to the Akkadians it was Urbat the Beast of Death.

To the Arab astronomers it was sometimes referred to as Al Asadah or the Lioness.

Alpha is a magnitude 2.3, B class star with a temperature of around 21,000,C compared to that of 5,800,C of the Sun, it lies at a distance of 460 light years. The only names it has is Chinese and is Yang Mun the South Gate.

Beta is a class B star even hotter than alpha at 23,500,  it has a magnitude of 2.7 and is 383 light years away. It will quickly use up its supply of hydrogen and become a red giant before possibly becoming a supernova in the future.

Gamma is 420 light years away and shines with a magnitude of 2.8 it is a B class star.

Eta magnitude 3.4 is 440 light years away and is an A class star.

Epsilon also magnitude 3.4 and is a B class star lying 510 light years away. 

There are many clusters in Lupus but they require small telescopes to see them, I will mention just NGC 5986 a globular cluster lying at a distance of 34,000 light years and shining at a magnitude of 8.0 It was discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop at the Paramatta observatory in Australia.

In the year 1006 a supernova appeared in Lupus, SN 1006, it  was probably the brightest observed stellar event in recorded history, reaching an estimated −7.5 visual magnitude and was roughly sixteen times the brightness of Venus. Appearing between April 30 and May 1. The Supernova was seen for about 3 months in the sky.

                                                      www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk