Mr Pritchard's Cooke telescope and Jupiter

 On a fine night in January 1860, John Browne esq  turned Mr Pritchard’s 6.75 inch equatorial by Cooke, for about half an hour on Jupiter.

 The planet was so well defined, and the details of the markings on the equatorial belt were so peculiar, that I mad a sketch of them, noting at the same time the remarkable brown colour of the equatorial belt.

 One of the edges of the belt (I think the upper side in the instrument) was beaded or divided into egg shaped masses, which must have been of brighter or lighter colour than the background of the belt, to have given them so much prominence.

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and Astronomy in Yorkshire - God’s Own Country.

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 the show can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

A teacher in London buys a number of Thomas Cooke telescopes

 Edmund Wheeler a lecturer (I don’t know in which subject) of London in 1857 purchased a number of telescopes from Thomas Cooke & Sons.

In February a 2.75 inch was brought, while in May a 4 inch engraved ‘Edmund Wheeler London’ and finally in September a 4 inch telescope on a plain equatorial stand with brass finder, 4 astronomical eyepieces and a sun prism. 

Thomas Cooke telescope used in London to draw Mars

 Mr Grove of Upper Harley Street London made drawings of Mars on October 26^th, 31^st and November 3^rd 1862. He used a 4.5 inch telescope made by Thomas Cooke of York, the focal length was 6 feet.

He was perfectly satisfied of there being notable changes in the distribution of the lights and shadows, inconsistent, it appears to him, there being land and water, or, as he should perhaps say, land and water only.

A comet seen from Gibraltar with a Cooke telescope

 Colonel De Rottenburg wrote in a letter dated June 24^th 1860 from Gibraltar. “ I observed a brilliant comet in the constellation of Auriga this evening, a line from beta through a Geminorum continued about three times their distance passed through its nucleus.

It was easily seen with the naked eye, the nucleus was a little less brilliant than Castor . Its altitude above the western horizon about equal to that of Venus at the same time.

I turned my 6 feet equatorial of 4.5 inches aperture made by Messrs Thomas Cooke & Sons of |York on the comet.

It has a bifid tail, very like that of the year 1846 as shown in Keith Johnsone’s Atlas of Astronomy which is edited by Mr Hind. I used powers of 26, 50 and 100 on the comet; the nucleus has a very sensible disk. It bore the powers of 100 very well; one portion of the tail is much longer than the other, the south preceding being the longer.

With 100 power the nucleus was situated within the nebulosity, and the nebulosity was more arched and prominent on the south preceding part. 

It was first seen by a gentleman here on Saturday evening 23^rd June.

Pub Landlords can be astronomers

 Alfred Compton a publican from Barnsbury Terrace in London ordered from Thomas Cooke & Sons in 1864 an achromatic 3.75 inch telescope with a focal length of 4 feet. The telescope was being sent to the London shop at Southampton Street where it would be collected.

Buy a Cooke telescope in Chester then sell a Cooke telescope in Chester

 

In 1865 Dr William Murray Dobie of Kings Buildings Chester purchased a 6inch Telescope from Thomas Cooke &Sons. This telescope cost £120

Dr Dobie was advertising for sale a 5.5 inch telescope that he had brought from Cookes in 1863. I have no idea why he was replacing this telescope as he described it as nearly new, it was only 2 years old and he described it as being of the first rate. He was selling this Cooke telescope for 65 guineas without its stand,

A Small Cooke Telescope for Gloucester

In 1867  Jonathan Coulson of Gloucester brought a telescope from Thomas Cooke &Sons which I believe was a 2.5 inch with a pancratic day eyepiece. The cost was £29 and 15 shillings. 

However I don’t know why Cookes gave him a discount of £4 and 9 shillings from the above price.

Thomas Cooke eyepieces for Halifax

 In Halifax in 1856, J W Child of Copley Wood, Halifax purchased two astronomical eyepieces for the telescope that had been lately purchased. 

Unfortunately I don’t what size of telescope this was or indeed if it was a Cooke telescope. And as is often the case I have no further information regarding this astronomer.

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and Astronomy in Yorkshire - God’s Own Country.

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.

Thomas Cooke Equatorial Mounting for Liverpool Optical firm

The optical company of Abraham & Co traded on Lord Street in Liverpool between 1851-1890.

In 1864 they ordered from Thomas Cooke & Sons a plain equatorial mounting on a tripod stand. This was for a 4.5 inch telescope.

As an instrument maker I don’t know why they could not provide a stand for this instrument, unless perhaps the buyer had asked for a Cooke mount.

The cost of this mount was £30 which today would be around £4,000.

The Rambling Astronomer and the Northern Lights

 I have just returned from the Arctic Circle where I was presenting some astronomy talks on a cruise ship. It had to happen on  Friday 13th January, when we close to Tromso that  there was a spectacular display of the Northern Lights. The level of activity was Kp4. I have enclosed a couple of images. 

We had a series of Aurora Crowns appearing over the ship. The displays were simply awesome.

Yet another Cooke telescope for Edinburgh

 In 1867 Richard Collins of Capel’s Place, Leith Walk, Edinburgh purchased from Thomas Cooke & Sons a 3 inch object glass to go with the tube that had already been sent.

I have no further information regarding this telescope.

Two Cooke telescopes for Edinburgh

I have come across two Cooke telescopes in Edinburgh. They were both purchased by Daniel Barton of Clarendon Cr. Edinburgh in 1865. 

The first was a 3 inch telescope. He also purchased a 4 inch telescope in a mahogany box.

I have no further information regarding Daniel Barton, 

A Cooke Telescope in New Jersey

 On January 9^th 1889 Mr Read was elected President of the Astronomical Society of Cambden, New Jersey, USA. He had an observatory with a 5.5 inch Thomas Cooke of York telescope with a clockwork drive also supplied by Cooke.

This society would in 1927 become the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society named after David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) the first American astronomer.

The Astronomy Show

Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and Astronomy in Yorkshire - God’s Own Country.

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.

The 7th moon of Jupiter discovered with the Crossley Reflector

 

On January 2^nd 1905 C D Perrine using the 36 inch Crossley Reflector discovered the 7^th moon of Jupiter which is now called Elara. The name Elara comes from one of the lovers of Zeus. The moon has a diameter of 79 km and is the 8^th largest moon of Jupiter.

The 36 inch reflector had been owned by Edward Crossley of Halifax, Yorkshire who owned Crossley Carpets the largest carpet manufacturer in the world in the 19^th century. He purchased it in the 1880s from A. A. Common of Ealing, London. Although it was at the time the largest reflector in England due to the poor observing conditions in the skies over Halifax which was due to the pollution from the many factories in Halifax it was impossible to use the telescope to its best.

In the mid 1890s he donated the telescope to the new Lick Observatory in California. During the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries the Crossley reflector at Lick proved to be a real trail blazing telescope leading in astronomical research in many different areas. It was also the largest reflector in America until the building of the 100 inch telescope at Mount Hamilton.