Sunday, 30 October 2022

A spooky astronomer's tale for Halloween

 The ghost was seen carrying its own coffin, such was the gruesome story that thrilled with horror the souls near a canal in northern England in the 19th century.

The reports that were given in good faith by people were quickly spread by others who travelled along the canal on barges of these ghostly apparitions.

The blood curdling mystery was solved however when it was realised that it wasn’t a ghost at all but the astronomer and inventor of the Steam Hammer James Nasmyth who at the time was living in Patricroft near Manchester and close to the Manchester Canal.

Nasmyth a keen astronomer often wanted to observe certain stars, he would therefore wake at an early hour jump out of bed and wearing just his white night shirt and carrying his telescope would move from place to place within his garden at the dead of night. Manchester was at this time an industrial city and through the dark, murk and polluted air it is not too difficult to see how this spooky story started.


The ‘ghost’ was actually an astronomer!!




Monday, 24 October 2022

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and the Messier Marathon.


The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and the show can be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.



Large Sun Spot Group seen from Manchester in 1905

 

New Sun Spot Group Thursday 25th October 1905


To the Editor of the Manchester Courier, Sir- There is another naked eye group of stars now on the visible surface of the Sun. The portion which is visible through the smoke and cloud is an immense spot.


Yours &c William C Jenskins

Observer

Godlee Observatory





Saturday, 22 October 2022

John Goodricke, Delta Cepheus and the Distance to the Stars

 John Goodricke who was deaf was on one the fathers of variable star astronomy. He worked with Edward Pigott in the city of York between 1781 and 1786 when he died at the tragically young age of 21.

Goodricke and Pigott explored the sky they explained that the variations of the star Algol in the constellation of Perseus were caused by an unseen body eclipsing Algol. The same principal is used by astronomers today to look for planets orbiting other stars. They then went on to both discover a new variable star on the same night, the 10th September 1784, Pigott discovered eta Aquila and Goodricke discovered beta Lyra. I described this as a night to remember in York.

The indefatigable Goodricke then went onto to discover the variability of the star delta Cephei in the constellation of Cepheus the King on the night of October 23rd 1784. This was to prove to be one of the most important astronomical discoveries.

Delta Cepheus is of tremendous value to astronomers today, Goodricke could not know the importance of his discovery. Cepheid variable stars are used to work out the distance to other galaxies. It was in 1912 that Henrietta Leavitt working at Harvard realised that there is a relationship between the Cepheid variable stars a pattern was seen that the brighter ones seem to have longer periods and that cepheids were very luminous stars and there was a relationship between the periods and distance.

If cepheids could be found in other galaxies the distances could be worked out. They were and this allowed astronomers to work out how far away the galaxies were. This was down to the discovery of delta Cepheus in 1784 by the deaf astronomer John Goodricke the discovery of this relation with the cepheids in 1912 by Henrietta Leavitt who was also partially deaf. This relationship is known today as the Period Luminosity Relationship.




Friday, 21 October 2022

Mr Baxendell in Manchester and Z Delphinus

 On October 24th 1863 Mr Baxendell in Manchester announced the discovery of a new variable star in Delphinus with a magnitude of 8.6. By December it had fallen to magnitude 12. After conjunction with the Sun it was found again on July 29th 1864 as a magnitude 13 object. From then until September 5th it rose to magnitude 8.4.

Although not given a variable star designation at the time I believe this star is Z Delphinus a long period variable star with a period of 304 days and varying between 8.3 and 15.3




Thursday, 20 October 2022

Venus seen through Cooke telescope in 1863

 On October 22nd 1863 I turned my 6 inch Cooke telescope upon Venus I was much surprised to see almost the whole of the unilluminated disc pf the planet; it was so striking I appearance, that I thought it must be the resemblance of the Moon, which made me fancy that I could see the unilluminated portion.

 My sister in law, whom I called to witness the planet, but without telling her what to look for, said she instantly saw the whole disc. The atmosphere was beautifully clear, but still the planet was so far past conjunction, that I should scarcely have imagined the phenomena would be visible.


J F Barber, Stanton by Dale , Nottingham




Wednesday, 19 October 2022

Cooke Instruments and Romania

 In early 1927 Cookes was contacted by the Resita Company in Romania with reference to their geodetic equipment.

Literature from Cooke Troughton and Simms through their representative Captain Boxshall were sent to the company and secured a very respectable order and it was hoped that this with be the first of many with Romania.






Tuesday, 18 October 2022

Cooke 25 inch Telescope and Mars

In early 1964 the 25 inch Newall refractor was used at the Penteli observatory in Athens to allow astronomers to make drawings of the planet Jupiter. There were some very good drawings of the Great Red Spot.

The Newall Telescope was originally made for Robert Newall in Gateshead in the north east of England in 1870. Sadly the observing conditions there were not good and it was never used to its best potential. 

In 1885 it was donated by the Newall family to the observatory at Cambridge and in 1957 it was sent to the Penteli Observatory in Athens. 

The telescope is still in use today at the Penteli Observatory.








Monday, 17 October 2022

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and the Messier Marathon.


The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and the show can be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.




Occultation of Iapetus seen from South Africa with a Cooke in 1963

 On October 17th 1963 using the 6 inch Cooke telescope at x300 magnification at the Republic Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa astronomers saw the Saturnian moon Iapteus occulted by Saturn. Iapetus was discovered by Cassini in 1671,

The first dimming occurred at 18h 58 m UT the light was finally extinguished at 19h 07m. These observations were confirmed by the Astronomical Observatory at Madrid.

The Union Observatory was originally the Meteorological Observatory built in 1905, it became the Union Observatory in 1912, until 1961 and finally the republic Observatory until it closed in 1971.




Friday, 14 October 2022

Maria Mitchell Observatory and a Cooke Telescope

The Maria Mitchell Observatory was founded in 1908 in Vestal Street Nantucket Massachusetts. The observatory was named after Maria Mitchell America’s first professional woman astronomer.

In 1952 the observatory housed a 5 inch Clark telescope which was given to Maria Mitchell in 1859 by the women of America and used as a guide scope for a Cooke photographic triplet telescope of 7.5 inches aperture.

I do not know when the observatory acquired the Cooke and how long it was used there if it indeed is still there today?





Thursday, 13 October 2022

Leeds A S visit Cookes in 1920

 On Saturday afternoon October 9th 1920 members of the Leeds Astronomical Society of which Mr David Booth is president and others visited the works of Messrs Cooke and Sons Ltd Bishophill, York where an interesting and instructive time was spent.

During their tour around the works they saw how lens are ground down and polished and how various instruments are used and adjusted.

Among the other things pointed out were various parts of the 18 inch telescope for Brazil. In the show room there were various telescopes including one made by Mr Cooke in 1850.

The visitors were surprised to find that in York there were such large and extensive works equipped with the various modern and accurate machines capable of making the most precise scientific instruments for the exacting demands of today.




Wednesday, 12 October 2022

Descriptive Astronomy by Chambers and a Cooke Telescope

 In the classic handbook of Descriptive Astronomy by G F Chanbers there are drawings from October 1865 showing a Great Sun Spot. The drawings were made by Frederick Brodie from his observatory at Uckfield in Sussex using an 8.5 inch Cooke telescope.




Tuesday, 11 October 2022

The 1881 BA meeting in York and a big Cooke Lens

Messrs Thomas Cooke and Sons of York had a display of scientific instruments for the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. It was the 50th anniversary meeting in York. The first was held in York in 1831.

Cookes had on display an achromatic telescope OG of 15.5 inches in a brass cell. This I believe would be the lens that would be fitted in the telescope owned by James Wigglesworth in Scarborough.

In addition there was a transit instrument and a large fixed equatorial telescope for the Spanish Transit of Venus expedition in 1882.

There was also an electrically controlled chronograph for recording astronomical observations. In addition a solar spectroscope with 5 prisms and double ray reversion equal to 20 prisms.




Monday, 10 October 2022

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and the Messier Marathon.



The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and the show can be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.


Northern Lights seen in Halifax in 1870

On October 20th 1870 Joseph Gledhill who was the assistant astronomer to Edward Crossley at his observatory at Park Road, Halifax and who normally used the 9.3 inch Cooke telescope saw a fine display of Aurora.

At 7.30 pm a bright red magnetic cloud lay in Auriga, a little later it was in Lynx. The large stars in the back of Ursa Major and the Northern Crown in the West marked the upper limit of the bright segment to the westward.

At 10.00 pm the arch of fiery red magnetic clouds was well seen, it extended from N E to W.






Saturday, 8 October 2022

50 Years of Service at Cookes

In August 1947 a social evening was held to commemorate the retirement of 5 veteran craftsmen at Cookes. Messrs A Harrison, T Dwyer, C Grewer, W Wrigley and J Danby all had worked for over 50 years at Cookes, they all stared at the end of the 19th century.

The social evening was held at the clubhouse where Mr E W Taylor joint managing director and son of HD Taylor who designed the Cooke Portrait Lens attended to present the proceeds of collections to each of the retired men.

Some of Mr Taylor’s anecdotes were enlightening to a younger generation, whilst others created amusement which continued with responses from the honoured guests.

It was a very pleasant evening.




Friday, 7 October 2022

October 7th 2135 Solar Eclipse

 The Next total eclipse of the Sun visible from the North of England will be on October 7th 2135!!!


This is actually part of a run of 5 eclipses visible from Britain in 27 years.





Thursday, 6 October 2022

A Cooke Telescope in Darlington

 The story of the telescope begins in 1890, when the vicar of Eryholme, in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire the Reverend Walter Stewart, had it installed in his home, Ellcott House, in Hurworth near Darlington.

It was "a 5-inch equatorially-mounted refractor" built by T Cooke and Sons of York.

It cost £374, (£53,400 at 2022 prices) and was regarded by one and all as a very fine instrument , a vast amount of money at the time.

In 1904, Mr Stewart, who was born in Hurworth, was offered a new living in Longley, Gloucestershire. Because Longley is a long way, the telescope had to remain, and so Mr Stewart offered it to Darlington council for about £130 (£17,500 at 2022 prices).

It seemed natural to place the telescope at the new technical college in Northgate, built in 1896, but the college was still £2,163 ( £292,300) at 2022 prices) in debt and the councillors were in no mood to increase its overdraft for the sake of a telescope.

At the last minute, 29 of the town's leading citizens emptied out their pockets and scraped together enough money to prevent the telescope being sent to the saleroom.

They formally presented it to the town on November 8, 1904, and the following year it was set up in the college's back yard.

But its view of the skies was not good and it was planned to move it to the college roof for "an uninterrupted view of the heavens".

But an astronomical advisor reported: "If the telescope is to be regarded as a pastime then that position would be satisfactory enough, but if a scientific use is to be made of the instrument the position is absolutely unsuitable. The ordinary tram and other forms of traffic set up a great deal of vibration."

North Lodge Park, next to the college, was dismissed as a site because town centre smoke would have obscured the heavens, so a site in South Park, next to the bowling green, was chosen.

The telescope was installed in December 1906 in its wooden, revolving observatory. Students of the skies had to pay 6d (£8.00 at 2022 prices) each, and inform the park superintendent if they intended to arrive after the park gates were locked for the night.In February 1908, Professor Dixon, one of the telescope's supervisors, even started an astronomy class at the technical college to make use of the instrument.

But in October 1910, the class was discontinued because it had no students.

In 1912, it was reported that "very little use is being made of the telescope", and by 1919 there was even less.

In January 1931, the Darlington and Stockton Times reported: "The telescope is seldom used now; in fact very few people know of its existence."

At the request of Darlington Grammar School, which is now the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, the telescope was removed to playing fields off Abbey Road.

There, its 100 ft high observatory was not popular with residents of Westbourne Grove.

In February 1951, the observatory was broken into, but police recovered the stolen equipment a couple of months later.

In 1979, Barry Hetherington, then chairman of the Cleveland and Darlington Astronomical Society, reported that the telescope needed a major overhaul.

In 1992, there was a fire in the wooden observatory and a lump of melted metal was sold as scrap. Six months later, someone seems to have realised that this lump was in fact the remains of the Darlington Telescope.

Later that year, it was reported that the base, the internal workings and the observatory wheels had survived the blaze and were being kept in a metal container.

There was some vague talk about them one day being included in a new, £50,000 telescope, but that that idea was quietly eclipsed.




Wednesday, 5 October 2022

Manchester Astronomical Society Report from 1910-11

From Nature Magazine in 1912 there is a report on the Manchester Astronomical Society which shows there is a vigorous interest in astronomy in the Manchester district. The membership for 1910-1911 was 128, as compared to 98 in 1903-1904, and an average attendance at the meetings was 72.

Many interesting papers were discussed by lecturers including Father Corrie and Mr T Thorp. On Alternate Wednesdays the Godlee Observatory is open to members for practical work.





Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Great Fire near Dunsink Observatory in 1895

Bradford Daily Telegraph Monday 7th October 1895

A fire occurred on Saturday October 5th at Rathbone’s candle factory near Dunsink Observatory, county Dublin, and properly estimated £80,000 was destroyed. The heat was so intense that it was found impossible to reach a water tank in the yard attached to the premises, and the only supply available was procured from an old quarry nearby. Tons of finished candles were and the buildings completely destroyed.




Monday, 3 October 2022

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and the Messier Marathon.


The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and the show can be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.



R C Johnson, Perrine's Comet and a Cooke Telescope

 On October 2nd 1902 Richard Cowan Johnson observed from Liverpool comet Perrine using his 4.5 inch Cooke refractor. The comet was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory using the 12 inch refractor on August 31st 1902.

I am not sure when R C Johnson obtained his 4.5 inch Cooke telescope but in May 1865 he Purchased a 2 inch Cooke on a brass mounting plus a Huyghenian eyepiece.

RC Johnson would go onto to become President of the Liverpool Astronomical Society from 1882-1884.