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 Astronomy show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Partial Lunar eclipse of the Hunter's Moon

 There will be a partial eclipse of the Moon on October 28. The eclipse occurs between 8.35pm and 9.53 pm with maximum occurring at 9.14 pm.

An eclipse of the Moon occurs when the Moon passes into the shadow of the Earth. We see the Moon because it reflects light from the Sun. Moonlight is in fact reflected sunlight. During an eclipse of the Moon some light from the Sun passes through the atmosphere of the Earth and is bent or refracted onto the surface of the Moon. The Earth’s atmosphere blocks the blue end of the spectrum, only allowing the red part to get through. This is why, during an eclipse, the Moon turns a coppery red colour. As this month's eclipse is partial, with only the southerly part of the Moon entering the Earth’s shadow, only the bottom part of the Moon will appear to change colour.

The full moon in October is known as the Hunter’s Moon. Following on from the Harvest Moon, this was the month when people would stock their larders with meat for the coming winter. The extra light from the moon this month helped them to locate their prey.

                                                          www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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 Astronomy show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

The Rylands Brothers? a Thomas Cooke telescope and the Liverpool Astronomical Society

 In 1864 John Rylands of Oxford Lodge Warrington purchased an eyepiece from Thomas Cooke to go with his 3 inch telescope he bought the previous year for the Thomas Cooke shop in London.

I don’t know if he was the brother of Thomas Rylands of Heath House who purchased a 5 inch telescope from Thomas Cooke in 1865. This telescope would later be donated to the newly formed Liverpool Astronomical Society in 1888.

Thomas Rylands was the son of John Rylands a wire manufacturer and on his father’s retirement ran the company with his brothers Peter and John

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R C Johnson, comet Perrine 1902 and a Thomas Cooke telescope

On October 2^nd 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 31^st 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.

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

25 inch Newall telescope at the Athens observatory and observations of Jupiter

 In early 1964 the 25 inch 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. In 1885 it was donated 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.

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

The Maria Mitchell Observatory and a Thomas 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?

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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 Astronomy show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Leeds Astronomical Society visit Thomas Cooke works in York in 1920

On Saturday afternoon October 9^th 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.

Thomas Cooke instruments in Romania

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

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Iapetus occulted by Saturn in 1963 seen through a Cooke telescope in South Africa

On October 17^th 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.

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Drawing of Sun by Frederick Brodie in 1865

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 Brodie from his observatory at Uckfield in Sussex using an 8.5 inch Cooke.

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Venus seen through a Thomas 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

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Aurora Borealis seen over 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.

No bright columns were seen this evening

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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 Astronomy show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

50 Years of Service at Thomas Cooke Instruments

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 19^th 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.

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk