A little ramble through Corona Australis the Southern Crown

Corona Australis the Southern Crown is a counterpart in the southern hemisphere for the Northern Crown of Corona Borealis in the northern hemisphere.

In appearance it looks like a curve of faint stars which is easily recognisable, however it is not visible from Britain. In modern maps it can be found just below the teapot asterism in Sagittarius.

Although faint it is recognised as one of the original 48 Greek constellations. Ptolemy recorded it around 150CE and called it The Southern Wreath, while earlier around 130 BCE Hipparchus on his star chart saw the group as The Caduceus or Herald’s Wand of Peace.

The Arab astronomer Al Sufi in 964 CE produced a star map and on his chart the group was known as Al Kubbah or the Tortoise, another Arab astronomer al Kazwini called it Al Udha al Na’am or The Ostrich’s Nest. While the Chinese astronomers also saw the group as a Tortoise.

As none of the stars are very bright, I will only mention alpha and beta, both have a magnitude or brightness of 4.1 meaning of course that any mist or moonlight will; make them very difficult to see.

Alpha is an A class star hotter than our Sun and lies at a distance of 150 light years, whereas Beta is a K class giant star cooler than the Sun and is 508 light years away.

There are no messier objects in Corona Australis but there is the Corona Australis Molecular Cloud which can be found just north of the star beta and at around 430 light years away is one of the closest star forming areas in the galaxy to us. There are over 7,000 proto stars in this region plus many other very young stars here. The whole structure covers around 66 light years.

The cloud is not bright enough to be seen with the naked eye,  a large telescope is needed to see it.

 

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Moses Holden and the solar eclipse of 1842

 On July 8th1842 the Preston astronomer Moses Holden observed a partial eclipse of the Sun. The eclipse was at maximum at 05.47 and about 75% of the Sun was covered by the Moon.

 

Although the first part of the eclipse was not seen from Preston due to cloud but the cloud had cleared by mid eclipse. Holden reported seeing mountains on the Moon around its edge as it passed in front of the Sun.

 

Moses Holden was clearly a very careful astronomer as he reported to the local paper that they would have to revise the timings of the eclipse as his watch was seven and five/tenths of a second fast.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - New Radcliffe Observatory catalogue in 1870

 Nature Journal July 7^th 1870

The Radcliffe Observer at Oxford the Rev. R Main, has just issued a second Radcliffe catalogue, containing 2,386 stars deduced from observations extending from 1854-1861.

The well known care taken by the observer in the reduction of observations, and the admirable instruments in the observatory under his charge, render this volume a very valuable addition to our astronomical libraries.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Cooke telescope for sale in Scotland in 1924

 The Scotsman Saturday 5^th April 1924 

Costly astronomical telescope with 5.5 inch aperture with equatorial mounting and case as new by T. Cooke and Sons York and London, with camera, microscope and special eye pieces which belonged to the late G J G Todd, Gowan Lean, Newhaven Road.

                                                         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.

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The star Procyon in 1874

 Academy Newspaper Saturday 16^th May 1874

 

The Russian astronomer, M. Struve, who has come over to this country to make the final arrangements for the Transit of Venus in concert with Sir George Airy, communicated to the Astronomical Society, at their last meeting, a paper on the companion to Procyon, discovered by himself last year, Procyon, like Sirius, is distinguished by having an irregular proper  motion, by virtue of which it appears to describe an elliptic orbit about a central body, which, till M. Struve's discovery, had escaped detection. In an elaborate paper, Auwers showed that M. Struve's faint, but not necessarily small, star would satisfy the conditions required for the disturbing body, though the evidence of its being the missing member of the twin system was not conclusive; he pointed out, however, that if it were the vera causa, it would change its direction with reference to Procyon by some 9°, and Struve now finds that it has actually done this, so that this interesting point appears now to be settled satisfactorily. Strange to say, this companion has not been seen with any of the monster telescopes of this country or America, but Mr. Talmage stated at the meeting that he had measured its position with Mr. Barclay's telescope of nine inches aperture, at Leyton. The brightness of the principal star  is so overpowering that special contrivances are required to hide its light, and, as M. Struve pointed out, no amount of aperture in the instrument employed will make up for neglect of these precautions. Assuming a parallax of a quarter of a second of arc for Procyon, corresponding to a distance which light would take thirteen years to traverse, it would appear from Auwers’ investigation that Procyon must have a mass about eighty times that of our Sun, whilst its apparently minute companion would have one of seven times; but it should be remembered that the data on which these conclusions are founded are somewhat uncertain, and that considerable corrections may be required.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Did Lewis Carroll use a Cooke telescope?

 St. Andrew the Apostle Naunton, Cheltenham

 Edward Litton, appointed rector in 1860, was a noted writer on theology and a friend of Revd Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) who is said to have stayed several times at the rectory.

He ordered a telescope from Thomas Cooke the details as follows  

 Litton, Rev E Litton, Naunton, Cheltenham 

19.05.1866 Telescope 4.5 inch aperture, finder, 4 astronomical eyepieces, solar prism, dark glasses, dew cap, polished in red deal case.

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A little ramble through Coma Berenices- Berenices Hair

 A faint spring constellation which has lots of stories attached to it. Although it is classed as a modern constellation it seems to have been added to the sky by Tycho Brahe, the last of the great pre telescopic astronomers put it onto a star chart shortly before he died in 1601 calling the constellation Coma Berenices.

Tye earliest record we have of the constellation appears to go back to Eratosthenes 276 BCE – 194 BCE who described it as Ariadne’s Hair. However, for around 2,000 years its place among the constellations seemed uncertain. It was sometimes seen as part of the tail of Leo or connected with Virgo.

The Dresden Globe which is believed to have been made by the Arab astronomer Nasir al- Din al -Tusi around the year 1288 CE shows the constellation as an Ivy Wreath. This globe was acquired in 1562 by August, Elector of Saxony.

The early Arabic astronomers saw it very differently they called it Al Haud or the Pond into which the gazelle which is our Leo Minor sprang when frightened at the lashing of the lion’s tail. However, some Arabic astronomers claimed that this pond lay among the stars of the neck, breast and knees of the Great Bear. In yet another Arabic view of the constellation Coma Berenices is seen as Al Halbah The Coarse Hair or Tuft in the tail of the lion in the zodiac, thus making our modern constellation of Leo much larger and extending beyond its modern boundaries.

Come Berenices appears to have been known to the Egyptians as The Many Stars. While the Chinese divided the constellation u into several smaller groups. These included Chow Ting, The Imperial Cauldron of the Chow Dynasty, Lang Tseang A General, Shang Tseang A Higher General and Tsae, The Favourite Vassal. The fact that there are so many small groups in this constellation indicates a great interest in the constellation by the Chinese.

None of the three brightest stars can be seen if there is any mist or moonlight in the sky as they are all faint stars.

The brightest star in Coma Berenices is beta which has no name has a magnitude of 4.2,  it is 30 light years away and is a F class star making it hotter than the Sun.

Alpha which is also known as Diadem which means Braid is slightly fainter at magnitude 4.3 and is 58 light years away.

Gamma is a K class giant star cooler than the Sun, it has a magnitude of 4.4 and is 169 light years away. Gamma is the brightest member of the Coma Star Cluster, a galactic cluster of stars the brightest ones are just visible to the naked eye on the very clearest of nights. It was known to Greek astronomers 2,000 years ago and was recorded by Ptolemy in his great work on Greek astronomy in around 150CE. In all there are around 40 stars in the cluster. An interesting note about the Coma Cluster is that it does not have a NGC New General Catalogue number of a Messier Catalogue number.

There is a myth attached to the Coma Cluster it is very famous, and it involves Queen Berenice II of Egypt, who was queen to King Ptolemy III. We are told that the queen will cut off her yellow hair as a sacrifice I the temple of Aphrodite in Zeph if her husband the king returns safely follow a battle. He does then she cuts her hair and places it in temple from where it mysteriously vanishes. A court official named Conon told the couple that the gods have taken her hair and placed it in the sky forever in the constellation of Coma Berenices.

 

There are 8 messier objects in Coma Berenices

M53

A globular cluster with a magnitude of 7.7.3 it lies 17,800 light years away. Messier saw it in 1779.

M64

I cannot resist mentioning one galaxy that you would need a telescope to find this is M64, the Black Eye Galaxy which was discovered by Edward Pigott in 1779 while living at  Frampton House, Llantwit Major in Wales.  It is called the Black Edye Galaxy because of the amount of dust near the galaxy which gives the impression of a black eye.

Edward Pigott would go onto York to work with the deaf astronomer John Goodricke and I christened them ‘Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy’ because of their work on variable stars. It was seen by Messier in 1780. Mag 8.5, and is around 17 million light years away

 

Coma group of galaxies

M85

A lenticular or elliptical galaxy lying at about 60 million light years away. At Magnitude 10 you would need a telescope to see it. There appears to be a super massive black hole at the centre of M85. It was seen by Messier in 1781

M88

A spiral galaxy 60 million light years away, magnitude 10.4 again a telescope needed to see it, another super massive black hole in this galaxy. Seen by Messier in 1781 

 

M99

A face on spiral galaxy at magnitude 10.4 it can only be seen with a telescope. 4 Supernova have been seen in M99, they were in 1967, 1972, 1986, 2014. The spiral nature of the galaxy first seen by Lord Rosse in 1846 using his 72 in h telescope at Bir Castle in Ireland. It was seen by Messier in 1781.

M100

Another face on spiral galaxy magnitude 9.5 again a telescope is needed to see it, seen by Messier in 1781, William Herschel described it as a bright cluster of stars. No less than 7 Supernova have been seen in M100, they were in 1901, 1914, 1959, 1979, 2006, 2019.

 

There are large numbers of galaxies in Coma Berenices, some are part of the Coma Supercluster of galaxies, while some are part of the Virgo Cluster There are also many NGC objects visible with in telescopes in Coma Berenices.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Foundation stone laid on May 30th 1870 for observatory in Mauritius

The foundation stone of a new observatory was laid at Port Louis Mauritius on the 30^th of May 1870 by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, to be called the Royal Alfred Observatory. In addition to astronomical observations, it is intended to make the observatory a centre for researches for the advancement of meteorology and terrestrial magnetism.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy- observatory broken into in 1887

 

Wallington & Carshalton Herald Saturday 9^th July 1887

 

 

WANTON MISCHIEF ! A DISGRACE TO WALLINGTON.

 

To the Editor of The Herald

 

Sometime night my Observatory was  broken into and the equatorial astronomical telescope mounted there was completely ruined, the object glass,  good one by Wray. Was stolen. and all the adjusting and clamping screws removed and taken away.

 

These things, of course, have  little or no value in themselves apart from the instrument, but  without them the whole machine with all its lenses and accessories, which I kept  for greater safety in the house. is utterly useless. Such wanton mischief ought somehow to be exposed.

 

I regret to say that this is not the first time I have had reason to complain, for hardly a month has passed during the year without some damage being done to the observatory itself; it is of very light structure. made of wood and covered with the Patent Willesden Card.  and has successfully stood the 'heavy  snow falls and storms of the past winter, but has not been proof against the sticks and stones which has frequently been sent through it.

 

The observatory stands in but perhaps too nest the footpath across the lavender field from which the  mischief has been done.

 

I never expect that my loss can be replaced, it would be no easy matter to get the  missing parts, probably scattered in the lavender field re made, and a new instrument, even if I could afford to buy it, could never have the associations and interesting early study.

 

But what can be said for this wanton spirit of destruction, which would have been counted a disgrace, even by the most uncivilised races of the world.

 

However let the people of Wallington know what sort they have in their midst to deal with, and be on their guard, for what can be safe?

 

I am yours faithfully

 

John  H Haslam

 

Penden Wallington, July 5th

 

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Order for Cooke telescopes from London in 1866/67

136 Kilpatrick & Co, 2 Northampton Square, London 

They are listed as merchants, what is a little confusing is that at the same address is Peter Kilpatrick I don’t know if he was related in any way he was a jeweller. He also had a branch in Melbourne, Australia. 

20.01.1866 Telescope No. 25, a 3.5 inch mounted on a tall tripod. with zonal and vertical motions

11.04.1867 Solar eyepiece, sliding wedge of dark glass

21.09.1867 Telescope No. 17 , 4 inch mounted on tripod with zonal and vertical motions

20.11.1867 3.5 inch astronomical telescope, 4 feet 6 inch or 4 feet 9 inch length with finder and dew cap. No stand. 4 eyepieces. Adapted for viewing nebulae- to have wide field eyepiece mag x25

                                                     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.

 

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The largest refractor in the world in 1874

The New York Independent of February 1874 thus describes the largest refractor in the world :—

 The great telescope of the Clarks, recently mounted at the Naval Observatory, in Washington, is probably, on the whole, the most powerful in the world. There are in existence a few reflectors of larger size. We recall at the moment the following—viz. the telescopes of Lord Rosse, one of 6 feet diameter, which is now out of use, and one 3 feet in diameter, with which some good work has been done within a few years; the 4-foot reflector of Mr. Lassell, not now in use; the great 4-foot reflector of the Melbourne Observatory, which is in use, but thus far disappoints expectation ; the 40-inch silvered-glass reflector of the Marseilles Observatory, which is a good and useful instrument in its line of work ; and, finally, the silvered-glass reflector of Dr. Draper, in this city, with an aperture of 28 inches.

These instruments all have a larger aperture than the Washington telescope, whose diameter is 26 inches. But the latter is a refractor—i.e. it forms the image of a celestial object by means of a lens, instead of a mirror; and an instrument of this kind is generally fully a match for a much larger reflector. The only other refractor in existence which can at all compete with it is the telescope made by Cooke, of England, and belonging to Mr. Newhall, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, which has an aperture of 25 inches and a focal length of 33 feet. There are one or two other instruments in England having apertures of 20 and 21 inches; but nothing is heard from them, and they are probably of inferior quality. Next in size comes the Chicago instrument, with a diameter of 18 inches; and next to this the great refractors of Cambridge (U.S.) and Poulkowa, with apertures of 15 inches. The Washington instrument, as has been said, has an aperture of 26 inches, and its focal length is 35 feet. It has a steel tube, shaped much like a cigar, and is mounted upon enormous axes of steel, upon which it turns freely with the pressure of a single finger. Its elaborate clockwork is driven by a small waterwheel, and makes it follow the diurnal motion of the stars with perfect precision.

The building in which it is placed is an admirable innovation on old-fashioned observatories, being as light and thin as possible consistent with sufficient strength. The walls are made of vertical oak posts, set some eight or ten feet apart, covered on the outside with sheet iron (painted, of course), and on the inside with paper. In very hot or very cold weather an observatory with walls of brick or masonry accommodates itself to the change of temperature at night and morning so slowly that for many hours each day the instruments are rendered almost useless by the currents of heated air; but in a building of this sort there is no such difficulty. The telescope sustains perfectly all the tests to which it has been subjected, showing the highest order of excellence in its materials and workmanship. At present its principal work is in securing measures of the satellites of Uranus and Neptune, as Professor Newcomb, who is in charge of it, takes an almost fatherly interest in those planets, the investigation of whose orbits has been the most important labour of his scientific life. His recently published work on Uranus has just been crowned with the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain. No second satellite of Neptune has yet been seen, nor any satellites of Uranus, except the four observed by Lassell, and known as Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. These are all well seen and satisfactorily measured. Somehow or other, a report has crept into the newspapers, much to the annoyance of the observers, that the telescope shows only two of the Uranian satellites. Nothing has yet been seen of the companion of Procyon, whose discovery was announced from Poulkowa. last winter, although it has been carefully looked for. It seems to be probable to say the least that the Russian observers were mistaken.

Professor Young, who has just been to see it, writes to our correspondent in the most enthusiastic terms. “It is glorious” he says, “I mean the nebula of Orion seen through it”.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - a new observatory in Argentina in 1870

 During 1870 a new observatory has been established by the government of the Argentine Republic in South America, to be erected at Cordova, about the middle of the continent, on the margin of the Pampas in latitude 31.5 degrees south.

Dr B A Gould has been invited to organise it and is going out for the special purpose of extending through the southern hemisphere the system of zones, which Besel and Argelander have already carried from the north pole as far as 30 degrees south. He hopes to be obtain some photometric determinations of the principal southern stars. The undertaking has been instituted and carried out entirely by the Government of the Argentine Republic, at the instance of the President, M Sarmiento, and of Dr Avellanela, the Minister of Public Instruction; but the various scientific institutions of the United States have aided the expedition greatly by loans of important and valuable instruments; and Dr Gould expresses his obligation to the Coast Survey, the “American Nautical Almanac,” the Washington Observatory, The National Academy of Sciences of Boston, all of which have afforded valuable assistance in providing him with instruments an equipment.

This will be the second public observatory in South America, that at Santiago, in Chile having been founded in 1851. Efforts are making to provide means for obtaining photographic impressions of some of the more prominent southern clusters of stars, analogous to those taken in the northern hemisphere by Mr Rutherford; but the success of these efforts is still uncertain.

Dr Gould estimates that three years will suffice to complete the southern zones within the limits which has assigned himself. We look forward with the moist sanguine hopes to the results of Dr Gould’s labours. In time we may hope to be almost as civilised as the Argentine Republic- almost as anxious to spread the knowledge of nature.

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A little ramble through Columba the Dove

 Although a modern constellation, the Greek poet Aratus c315-240 BCE in his Phainomena which is the guide for the appearance of the classical constellation today does mention that there were stars in the area of sky occupied by Columba, however he does not give any name or any kind of figure to them.

Some references today suggest that it was the French astronomer and architect Augustin Royer who first published a star atlas containing the constellation of Columba in 1679.

This does seem a bit strange to me as the Dutch astronomer and map maker Petrus Plancius first depicted the constellation on a map of 1592 where he named it Columba Noachi or Noah’s Dove referring to the dove that told Noah that the great flood was receding.  It was also depicted as such by Bayer in 1603 on his Uranometria star atlas.

Whoever we choose to decide who incorporated Colunba into the sky the fact that it is a modern constellation which means that there are no myths or legends attached to it.

Columba is a winter constellation and can be seen under Lepus the Hare and just to the side of Canis Major. As seen from Britain it is very low in the sky and any hint of mist or haze means that it is not possible to see any of the stars in Columba.

The brightest star is alpha and has a modern name given to it which is Phad the meaning of which seems uncertain. The Chinese called the star Chang Jin which means the Old Folks. It has a magnitude on 2.6, it’s a B class star making it hotter than the Sun and lies at a distance of 260 light years.

Beta Columba which unlike alpha does appear to have an older Arabic name which is Wezn or Weight. Some Arab astronomers called alpha and beta Al Aghribah or the Ravens. Beta has a magnitude of 3.1 it’s a K class giant star cooler than the Sun and is 87 light years away.

The last star I would just like to mention is Mu Columba it’s one of ‘three famous runaway stars’ the others being 53 Aries and AE Auriga. The three stars all seem to be at about the same distance from the region of the Orion Nebula. It is believed that they were all pushed away from the region due to a supernova explosion during the last few million years. Mu has a magnitude of 5.1 which means that it can just be seen with the naked eye under the very best of sky conditions. It’s one of only a few of the super-hot O class stars that are visible to the naked eye, it has a surface temperature of about 33,000 degrees compared to the Sun’s temperature of 5,800 degrees. Mu is around 1,900 light years away.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Sunspots seen with a Cooke telescope in 1896

 In 1867 the Rev  J H Jenkinson of St Mary’s vicarage  Reading, Berks purchased two astronomical eyepieces from Thomas Cooke and Sons York.  In 1896 he described a series of sunspot drawings he had made between February and August of that year. He used a 4.5 inch Thomas Cooke of York telescope.

 I wonder if those eyepieces purchased in 1867 were  the ones used in 1896?

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Cooke Telescope Tales - Cooke telescope in Mauritius for transit of Venus in 1874

 Abridged from the Times January 9^th 1875

 

The further news which we have received from the Mauritius is much more hopeful than that telegraphed by Lord Lindsay, for it includes an account of the doings of Mr Meldrum, the director of the Government Observatory in that island. 

Mr Meldrum having only a few weeks before the transit of Venus been provided with a perfect telescope of six inches aperture by Thomas Cooke & Sons, York has been fortunate enough to obtain an observation of the ingress although both Lord Lindsay and the German party were prevented from doing this but the cloudy state of the sky. But although Mr Meldrum obtained the two interior contact5s, clouds and haze were at intervals passing over the Sun, which, in fact, was obscuring during the greater part of the transit, passing showers of rain not being wanting to harass the observers. 

At times beautiful definitions of the planet were observed, especially soon after the first interior contact. Then there was a long period of obscuration, after which, most fortunately, the Sun shone out for the second interior contact. A few minutes before the last interior contact the Sun was again obscured, and when the clouds passed away the transit was over.

www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Mrs Muter's travels in in India and China in 1864

Observatory at Peking

Before we left Peking, on the morning of the 12th we procured an order of admission to the observatory on the east wall. The way was through the house of the keeper, up a winding flight of stone steps to a platform higher than the wall.

The astronomical instruments were numerous, finished with a nicety impossible to surpass, and mounted on Chinese designs of great beauty and exquisite workmanship. I saw no glasses for observing the heavenly bodies which surprised me, as the neighbouring nation of Japan is famed for their construction.

The heavens were depicted on a magnificent bronze globe by raised stars of solid brass, displaying more knowledge than the Chinese are supposed to possessed. Indeed, these instruments were planned and constructed under the direction of Jesuit missionaries, though no small credit is due to mechanics who could finish so inimitably, such difficult and delicate work. There was an artful combination of lightness with strength in the bronze work, the sextants being mounted on the shoulders of fantastic dragons.

Mrs Muter’s Travels in India and China &c vol ii p 163

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The 24 inch Grubb telescope for the Cape of Good Hope Observatory in South Africa

Mr. Frank McClean has expressed his desire to present a large equatorially mounted telescope, equipped for photographic and spectroscopic work, to the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope in 1894.

With this object he has arranged with Sir Howard Grubb, for the construction of a photographic refracting telescope of 24 inches aperture, and for an object glass prism to work with it, having a refracting angle of 7 degrees and the same aperture as the object-glass. The glass for the object glass and prism have already been secured, and the definitive order for the instrument was given to Sir Howard Grubb on May 4 last.

Coupled with the photographic telescope, there is to be a visual refracting telescope of 18 inches aperture. The mounting is to be sufficiently elevated to allow a slit spectroscope, for the determination of stellar motions in the line of sight, to be attached to the photographic telescope; and the gift will include such a spectroscope, as well as an observatory of light construction.

Although completed in 1898 it was not officially opened until 1901 and the telescope was called the McClean Telescope.

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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.

 

A little ramble through Circinus the Compasses

In the 1750s the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille 1713- 1762 travelled to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to list the stars in the southern hemisphere. He would produce a catalogue of over 10,000 stars. He would also introduce 14 new constellations to the night sky; many would represent state of the art scientific instruments of the day.

Although many of the instruments he introduced to the sky in the forms of constellations were important, most of his constellations lacked imagination, are very dull, bland and have few if any bright stars.

Circinus was one such constellation introduced between 1750-1754 it can only be seen from the southern hemisphere. The stars of Circinus could easily have been absorbed into the neighbouring constellations of either Centaurus, or Triangulum Australe.

As a modern constellation there is no myth or legend attached to it. A pair of compasses are of course very important to a navigator trying to work out where his ship is and the route the ship is taking.

Unlike some of his constellations Circinus does at least have one moderately bright star, alpha which has a magnitude of 3.2 and is 54 light years away. It’s an A class star hotter than the Sun. There is no name for this star.

The only other star worth mentioning is beta at magnitude 4.1 this star also has no name, you would need a clear dark sky to be able to see beta as if there is  any mist or haze in the sky and you simply would not find it. Beta is 91 light years away and is another A class star indicating that it is hotter than the Sun.

Within the boundary of Circinus here are three open clusters and one planetary nebula however you would need a telescope to be able to see any of these objects.

 

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Cooke Telescope Tales - A Cooke telescope in Poland in 1898

 In Warsaw in 1898 an observatory was established in an observatory a short distance north west of the university there. The observatory had originally belonged to the Polish amateur astronomer Jan Walery Jedrzejewicz (1835-1887) at Plonsk in central Poland. 

Among the equipment in the observatory was a 5 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope. Among the objects that Jedrzejewicz observed were double stars, sunspots, lunar occultations and the positions of 16 comets.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - some asteroids discovered in 1868 and 1869

The planet Lydia (No.110) discovered by M Borelly at the Marseilles Observatory on the 19th April 1870 had a magnitude of between 12 and 13. M. Borelly has previously discovered two planets bearing the numbers 91 and 99 in the system of asteroids revolving between Mars and Jupiter.

The two planets had long been nameless, in consequences of the persistent refusal of M. Le Verrier to permit the astronomers under his jurisdiction to bestow any names upon them. The 91^st has now received the name Egina, and the 99^th that of Dike.

The planet which bears the number 109 in the series of asteroids, and which was discovered at Clinton by Mr C H F Peters on the 9^th October 1869  has received the name of Felicitas.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - observing the satellites of Jupiter from Bolivia in 1875

An accurate map of Bolivia, the region formerly known as Upper Peru, and famous throughout the world for its inexhaustible supplies of silver, has long been a desideratum. We are glad to hear that Commander Musters, R.N., the gallant explorer of Patagonia, and Mr. Minchin, a civil engineer, are engaged in carefully fixing the positions of the principal towns in Bolivia by astronomical observations. Commander Musters resides at Sucre, the capital, and he is provided with a telescope for the observation of Jupiter's satellites, to determine the longitude.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Arthur Atkinson a 5 inch Cooke telescope and the transit of Venus observed from New Zealand in 1882

 Arthur Samuel Atkinson was born in Hurworth, Durham in 1833 and moved to New Zealand in 1853. He fought during the Taranaki war in 1860 and eventually he entered the legal profession but had a great love of astronomy. 

In 1882 he was asked by the Royal Society of London to be an official observer of the Transit of Venus. To do this he obtained a 5 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope which I believe he purchased second hand. He also used it to observe the total eclipse of the Sun in 1885. 

The telescope was housed in an observatory in Nelson which is on the south island of New Zealand and was originally called the Atkinson Observatory. In 1982 a newer building was opened and in 2008 the observatory was renamed the Cawthron Atkinson Observatory after the wealthy benefactor Thomas Cawthron. 

The Cooke 5 inch telescope was officially retired from active use in 2017 and was placed in a new Cawthron Trust Institute building for people to look at. The Cooke was replaced by a celestron 14 inch telescope.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Observing Encke's comet in 1871

It may interest those who possess small telescopes to know that Encke's  comet is now within the range of instruments of moderate aperture. On November 10^th, 1871, I had a very satisfactory view of it, with a 4-inch equatorial by Cooke; no signs of a nucleus were observed, but there appeared to be a slight condensation pf light on the following side of the comet.

Thomas G Elger

Bedford

November 10^th, 1871

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A little ramble through Chamaeleon the Chamaeleon

  One of the so-called modern constellations Chamaeleon can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, it is in fact  a southern circumpolar constellation.

It was created by the Dutch astronomer and map maker Petrus Plancius 1552-1622 in 1598 from observations made by the Dutch explorers and navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederick de Houtman while they were exploring the Dutch East Indies or as it is known today, Indonesia.

The work done by Keyser and de Houtman would lead to Plancius creating 12 new southern hemisphere constellations. Later this constellation and others would appear on the star map created by Johannes Bayer in 1603 and the stars would be allocated some letters from the Greek alphabet.

The Chamaeleon was one of many animals placed in the sky by Europeans when they explored parts of the world they have never seen before. This one was named Chamaeleon which is a kind of lizard and that can change its colour. As it is a modern constellation there are no myths or legends attached to it.

The constellation is rather like the modern constellation of Lacerta the Lizard that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the northern hemisphere in the 1680s in that there are no bright stars and it is difficult to locate.

The brightest star alpha it has no name is only of magnitude 4.1 so any mist, haze or moonlight means you would not be able to see the star. It lies 63 light years away and is a F class star and is hotter than the Sun.

Gamma also has no name and is the same brightness as alpha at magnitude 4.1 and is 418 light years away and is a K class giant and is cooler than the Sun.

The last star I will mention is beta again no name and is very slightly fainter than alpha and gamma with a magnitude of 4.2, it lies 298 light years away and is B class star and is much hotter than the Sun having a surface temperature over 14,000 degrees compare the only 5,800 degrees of the Sun.

There are no star clusters or galaxies to mention in Chamaeleon.

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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.

Cooke Telescope Tales - Observations of Venus from Corsica in 1934

 During the early part of 1934  C V C Herbert made a series of observations of Venus from his small observatory at Carrosaccia, Corsica using a 4.5 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope. Although only a small instrument the quality of the object glass and the steady atmosphere compensated for the small aperture.

 During March, April and May 1934 Venus was observed on 28 days. No surface markings were however noticed. On March 12^th the seeing was for a short time superlative. 

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Cooke Telescope Tales - New observatory in Catania in Italy in 1890

In 1890 a new observatory at Catania in Sicily was opened, its main role was in the study of astrophysics. A 6 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope was installed with photographic apparatus; Huggins apparatus for photographing the solar corona. 

In 1892 regular observations of solar spots and prominences started. On April 23^rd 1893 observations were made of the 1893 solar eclipse using the 6 inch Cooke

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - A great comet for 1865?

 A GREAT COMET PREDICTED

Liverpool Mercury March 18^th 1864

The following is an extract of a letter just received from Melbourne:- Professor Newmager, on a three years’ scientific visit to Bavaria , tells us that in 1865 a comet shall come so close as to endanger this our Earth; and should it not attach itself to us ( as one globe of quicksilver to another) , not annihilate us, the sight will be most beautiful to behold. During three nights we shall have no darkness but be bathed in the brilliant light of the blazing tarin! The professor was leaving Australia for Bavaria, so that we may hear more of this on his reaching Europe.

Sir – The above appeared in the Liverpool Mercury on the 18^th March. As an amateur astronomer, I am anxious to know if there is any truth in it, and if so, whether the above comet will prove to be one of the small periodical members of the solar system calculated to cross the Earth’s orbit in our then immediate neighbourhood, or some gigantic stranger returning from a 2,000 year excursion in space, with illuminating powers sufficient to dispel the midnight gloom for three consecutive nights, and if there is any danger of this world being knocked into a hundred asteroids, or a shower of meteoric stones to puzzle the inhabitants of Venus.

Doubtless if laid before your numerous readers, some amateur of the advanced class will be found to sift the above predictions pro and cons and enlighten-

Yours very truly

Hugh Elias

Liverpool March 21^st 1864

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Transit of Venus observed from India in 1874

 

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 

Friday 11^th December 1874

 

Transit of Venus 

This station (Roorkee) is in fact a contribution made by the Government of India at the suggestion of Colonel Tennant B.E, ( Bengal Engineers), who in and since 1865 has rendered valuable aid in the observations of many interesting astronomical phenomena visible in Indian territory, especially the total eclipse of 1868 and 1871. 

The suggestion of Colonel Tennant was at once warmly taken up by the viceroy in conjunction with the home government with a view to their future use in subsequent inquiries. The instruments sent out by Colonel Strange, of the India Stores Department are of the utmost precession and delicacy.   

The temporary observatory erected by Col. Tennant at Roorkee, the seat of the Indian Civil Engineering College at the foot of the Himalayas, now contain a refractor of 6 inch aperture made by T Cooke & Sons York.

  

 

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 

Saturday 12^th December 1874 

Colonel Tennant from Roorkee says that during the transit one hundred photographs of the planet had been taken. 

Probably if nothing else had been done, this would have secured to England an honourable place in the record of investigations.

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A little ramble through Cetus the Whale

 In mythology this constellation was known as Cetus or the sea monster. It was sent by Neptune to destroy the land of Queen Cassiopeia. The monster would be turned to stone by the Greek hero Perseus who had just killed the Medusa. He turned the head of the medusa towards the monster who was just about to eat the princess Andromeda and turned the monster to stone. Perseus landed rescued andromeda rescued her, they were married and lived happily ever after. Cetus together with most of the other characters from this story can be seen in the autumn.

This Babylonians seem to have known of this story before it gets told by the Greeks. By Aratos and Eratosthenes. In Babylonian mythology the constellation had been referred to as Tiamat which was a strange and ferocious creature, other forms of this creature have been represented by Draco, Hydra and Serpens. There are some suggestions that Draco was the monster attacking Andromeda due to the closeness of the constellation in the sky to the Main characters in the famous story. If you watch the film, the Clash of the Titans you will know what I am talking about.

The Arab astronomers called the constellation Al Ketus which closely resemble the Greek view of the constellation.

It appears that it was during the 1600s that due to the Biblical School saw not a monster but a whale that swallowed Jonah. It is rather confusing that the constellation is known today as the whale.

The brightest star in Cetus is not alpha but beta which is rather confusing as it messes up the system that was introduced in 1603 by the German astronomer Johannes Bayer, whereby the brightest star in a constellation would be labelled alpha, the second brightest beat and so on through the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet until the last letter omega was reached. Cetus is another example where the system does not work properly.

Beta or Deneb Kaitos which comes from the Arabian Al Dhanab al Kaitos al Janubiyy or The Tail of the Whale towards the South. While a little later the Arab astronomers referred to the star as Al Difdi al Thani or The Second Frog. It is from this name that beta is sometimes known as Diphda.

In China the constellation was known as Too Sze Kung or the Superintendent of Earthworks.

Beta has a magnitude of 2 meaning that it is the same brightness as the North Star, but because we see it much lower in the sky it will not appear as bright at the North Star. The star lies at 93 light years away and it is a K class giant star which  is cooler than our Sun.

Alpha or Menkar which means ‘Nose’ is the popular name for this star, but it is not very accurate because it actually marks the monster’s open jaws.

It’s the second brightest star in Cetus and is a magnitude 2.5 red giant star of class M with a surface temperature of around 3,600 degrees and is much cooler than our Sun which has a surface temperature of 5,800 degrees. Alpha is 250 light years away. 

Gamma or Al Kaff al Jidhmah was used by the Arab astronomers to describe the whole head of the monster whereas today it just applies to this star. The stars that mark the head of the monster were known to the Chines as Tseen Kwan or  the Heaven’s Round Granary.  It’s an A class star hotter than the Sun and lies 80 light years away. It has a magnitude of 3.5.

Tau Ceti is mentioned here only because it has appeared in many science fictions films and shows. It is a magnitude 3.5 star lying around 12 light years away. It is a G class star fairly like our Sun.

Since 2012 there has been evidence of at least 5 planets orbiting the star, even before this Tau has appeared in much science fiction. There have around 30 different novels and tv programmes including Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Enterprise. The star also figured in Dr Who in 1975 and in the 1968 film Barbarella.

If Tau has some notoriety, then it is omicron that takes the astronomical show.

Omicron or Mira which means ‘The Wonderful’ has a long history. It was seen by the Dutch astronomer Fabricius in 1596 and recorded as being of the third magnitude, but a few weeks later it could not be seen. Johann Bayer the German astronomer who allocated the Greek letters to the stars in the constellations saw it in 1603 and allocated to it the letter omicron, but after a few weeks it had disappeared again.

Astronomers were amazed by this but then they realised that the reason the star kept appearing and disappearing was due to the light from the star brightening and then fading.

It was the first star to be recorded as a variable star and was accordingly given the title of Mira the Wonderful. It is unclear if the astronomers of ancient Greece were aware of the light changes in Mira.

The name was first used the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in the 1660s. It was later established that Mira has a period of around 331 days and at its brightest it can become as bright as the North Star, but when at its faintest it drops to magnitude 10 and cannot be seen even with binoculars or a small telescope. The maximums are quite unpredictable and sometimes at maximum it will not even reach the 4th magnitude.

Mira is around 270 light years away and is a M class giant star and has a surface temperature of between 2,700-2,900 ‘C making it much cooler than the Sun.

Mira is the prototype for the Mira type variable stars. This is a class of many hundreds of red giant stars which vary in light range of 5-9 magnitudes over a period of about 60-700 days.

There is one messier object in Cetus and that is M77 or The Squid Galaxy. This object is a Seyfert galaxies. These are galaxies that have a bright compact core that shows strong infrared emission. Such galaxies were named for the American astronomer Carl K. Seyfert, who first called attention to them in 1944. 

M77 in Cetus is about 47 million light years away and with a magnitude of 8.9 it can only be glimpsed with binoculars this means that you would need at least a small telescope to see any sort of detail in the galaxy.   M77 is close to the star delta Cetus.

Messier observed it in 1780 as a faint cluster of stars which contains nebulosity in Cetus and at the same parallel as the star delta. 

 

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Mr Rutherford of New York and photographs of the Moon in 1871

 From Nature Magazine November 9th 1871

Mr Rutherford of New York, the most eminent American amateur astronomer, and especially known for his magnificent photographs of celestial bodies, has lately presented to Mr Brothers of Manchester an English astronomical photographer, three superb negatives of the moon- one representing her in the first quarter, one when full and one in the third quarter; and it is proposed to publish these in a volume containing about one hundred pages of descriptive letterpress.

The work will also contain a map of the Moon, as we see her, and a chart, on the stereographic projection, showing the true shape and the relative dimensions of all the chief lunar features. The letterpress, map and stereographic chart will be prepared by Mr Proctor; the photographs by Mr Brothers. The work will be got out on a magnificent scale, and sold at a guinea and a half.

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Cooke Telescope Tales 2 - Kodaikanal Observatory, India 1908

 

On February 18^th 1908 Mr Evershed at the Solar Physics Observatory, Kodaikanal, South India using a 6 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope took a  series of photographs of a solar prominence. The remarkable appearance of this kind of prominence has seldom been recorded.  20 photographs were taken with 14 being reproduced here.

 

Visual observations were also made which indicated  a moderately bright mass of prominences

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