Cooke Telescope Tales - transit of Mercury seen from Mauritius in 1907

The transit of Mercury was observed on November 14^th 1907 from the Royal Alfred Observatory in Mauritius using a Cooke 6 inch refractor. The transit which was seen through a partly  cloudy sky and the limb of the Sun was described as being boiling. Mercury appeared as a clear cut black disc, perfectly circular with no spot or fringe. 

There were 11 photographs taken during the transit with the 6 inch Cooke. The telescope  had ben supplied to Mauritius by the colonial government in1874 in order to observe the transit of Venus.

                                                        www.tharamblingastronomer.co.uk

Cooke Telescope Tales - The disorderly apprentice in 1859

 On Thursday November 3^rd 1859 J Chadwick esq apprentice summoned Mr Cooke, optician and mathematical instrument maker to the magistrates at the Guildhall in York for refusing to teach him his grade. 

Mr Cooke said that J Chadwick had grossly misbehaved and had absented himself on one or two occasions. Under these circumstances Mr Cooke refused to receive the lad into his service. 

The magistrate ordered the lad’s indentures to be dismissed. J Chadwick has since joined the Cape Mounted Rifles in South Africa.

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A little ramble through Octans the Octant

 Octans the Octant-Southern Hemisphere

The constellation that contains the South Pole star, despite this privileged position, Octans is faint and unremarkable. There is no southern equivalent of Polaris, the North Pole star. The nearest star to the south celestial pole is Sigma Octantis with a magnitude of only 5.5 which lies about 1 degree from the pole. 

The constellation of Octans commemorates the instrument known as the Octant, a forerunner of the sextant, invented by the English astronomer John Hadley and used by him for measuring star positions.

The constellation was introduced by Nicolas Lacaille during his stay at the Cape of Good Hope and its dullness is a memorial to his dreadful lack of imagination.

There are a few northern references to a south pole star, the Hindu’s referred to it as Dramasa, while the Arab astronomers either knew or guessed that there would be a south pole without giving it a name.

The brightest star is Nu an orange K class giant star with a brightness of magnitude of 3.7 lying at a distance of 64 light years.

Sigma the South Pole Star shines with a brightness of magnitude 5.5 and lies at a distance of 281 light years. Sigma is a F class giant star with a temperature of 7,200’C.

Cooke Telescope Tales - telescope for Macclesfield in 1864

Thomas Davenport of Macclesfield purchased from Thomas Cooke in 1864 a small telescope. It had a lens of 2.5 inches and came with a terrestrial eyepiece and leather sling case. I assume this was not for astronomical work. 

Davenport later in 1868 purchased from Thomas Cooke a brass pillar and claw table stand and two astronomical eyepieces. I don’t know if this was to mount the telescope he purchased in 1864 or if it was for another instrument.

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - meteor over Sweden in 1876

 Nature August 3^rd 1876

A fall of meteorites, we learn from Aftonblad, took place on June 28^th, between 11.00 and 12.00 am near Stalldalen, a station non the Swedish Central Railway, in the northern most part of Orebrolan. Several fell, some on the ground and others in a lake. Two were found, one about the size of the fist band weighing 4.5 lbs, the other smaller.

Eyewitnesses stated that a loud whistling was first heard in the air from west to east, and a light was plainly distinguishable; although the sky was clear and cloudless, thereafter two very sharp reports were heard, the second succeeding the first after a momentary interval, followed by several others less sharp, resembling thunder, after which the falling stones were observed by eight or ten persons; and finally, there was seen in the air a whirling smoke, not very high up.

A meteor was observed simultaneously at Stockholm and at other places. At thirteen English miles south west of Linkoping it was seen first in a north westerly direction pretty high up in the sky, and it then sank down in about ten seconds towards the horizon in the west. It had the appearance of a large pear a foot long, which, notwithstanding the bright sunshine, left behind a clear shinning streak of six to eight feet in appearance length, which finally broke up into a multitude of starlike sparks. Here no noise was heard.

According to a communication from the Stockholm Meteorological Bureau, there is reason to believe that the phenomenon arose from the “Kulblixt” which generally appears as a luminous round object, and often on approaching the ground, assumes a lengthened form and a blinding white colour, and bursts asunder, commonly with a loud report. As all who observed the meteor, both in Stockholm and in Sodernanland , saw the luminous appearance in the same direction, viz. W N W, it is probable that the light proceeded from the main mass of the meteor situated at a very great distance.

The phenomenon observed here at Stockholm must therefore have been an illusion, the object, instead of being, as most people estimated, within a few thousand feet, being actually at a great distance.

Later information shows that the phenomenon was visible over a great part of middle Sweden.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - telescope for sale in Ormskirk in 1968

 A Cooke Troughton 5 inch telescope was being offered for sale in Ormskirk by W A Howe in 1968. There was also a 14 foot diameter dome observatory for sale. 

The fact that this was advertised as a Cooke Troughton telescopes suggest it was post a relatively modern instrument being a post 1922 instrument.

                                                       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.