The Cooke 25 inch Telescope and Capella
In 1870 the Newall telescope which had beem made by Thomas Cooke and Sons of York and had a lens 25 inches across was installed in the observatory of Robert Newall in Gateshead. Following the death of Robert Newall in 1889 the telescope was sent to Cambridge and was used by Hugh Newall the youngest son of Robert.
In 1899 using the 25 inch Hugh Newall with a 4 prism spectroscope observed that the star Capella the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga the Charioteer was a binary star.
In America during 1899 Prof William Wallace Campbell at Lick Observatory also noted that Capella was a double, this was based on photographs taken between 1896-1897.
And it's now on top of a Greek mountain and used for outreach !
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