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

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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.

                                                        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 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

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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.

                                                    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.

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. 

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

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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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.

The Full Thunder Moon in July

 The full moon on July 10th  is known as the Thunder Moon as this is the month of the year when we are most likely to get thunderstorms

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Cooke Telescope Tales 1 - Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope for sale in India in 1891

 Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore) Saturday 3^rd January 1891

 

For Sale, owner leaving India 

An equatorial telescope of 6 inches aperture by T Cooke & Sons, York, driven by clockwork, with stellar and solar prisms and a lot of eyepieces. 

Also the revolving roof or dome (16 feet in diameter) of sheet zinc on teak frame, covering the telescope. 

H B Hederstedt 

late chief engineer of the Oude and Rohilkund Railway, Lucknow

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A little ramble through Cepheus the King

 It has often been said that “The female of the species is more deadly than the male”. In the case of this constellation and with the story of the Cassiopeia legend, the female of the species is certainly the more conspicuous than the male, since King Cepheus cannot be compared with his wife Cassiopeia.

Cepheus is not particularity easy to identify since he is faint. However the constellation takes the form of a large rather faint diamond which is in the area between the North Star, Cassiopeia and Deneb in Cygnus one of the stars in the summer triangle.

Cepheus is a circumpolar constellation as seen from Britain which means it can be seen all year round.

Cepheus seems to have attracted interest almost from the beginning of recorded history. It relates to the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Cepheus is married to Queen Cassiopeia who’s the person who manages to upset the water nymphs and Neptune who was god of the sea then sends a sea monster the Cetus to attack her land.

To only way to save their land is to have their daughter Andromeda chained to a rock waiting for the sea monster to attack her, but at the very last minute our hero Perseus riding the winged horse Pegasus arrives on the scene. He has just killed the Medusa a creature with her hair made of snakes and just to glance at her one would be turned to stone. Perseus rescues Andromeda, hey are married and live happily ever after. All the characters including Cephus can be seen in the sky. If you have ever seen the film, the Clash of the Titans can see the story.

Most ancient civilization seemed to refer to Cepheus by that name, the Persian astronomers had several variations to that name the main one would be Phicarus or the Fire Kindler. The Hindus knew Cepheus as Kapi the Ape god. The Chinese believed that within the constellation was the Inner Throne of the Five Emperors.

The Arabic astronomer Al Ferghani called the constellation Al Radif the Follower. This may have come from some misunderstanding from the nearby Al Ridf in the tail of Cygnus the Swan, for the name Cepheus does not seem to ever to have been known by any such title in Arabic astronomy.

The brightest star in Cepheus is alpha or Alderamin which originally meant the right arm but today is the right shoulder. The star has a brightness of magnitude 2.5 it’s an A class star meaning it’s hotter than our Sun. It also is close to us being only 49 light years away. In around the year 7,500 it will become the North Star. This is due to a process called precession or the wobbling on the Earth on its axis.

Beta or Alfirk which to the Arabic astronomers means the Flock is a B class star with a surface temperature of around 23,600 degrees much hotter than our Sun which has a surface temperature of around 5,800 degrees. Alfirk is around 690 light years away and has a magnitude which varies very slightly from 3.1 to 3.3.

To the Arab astronomer’s gamma or Arrai means the Sheppard. While the Chinese astronomers called the star Shaou Wei or the Minor Guard. With a magnitude of 3.2 it’s a K class giant star cooler the Sun and can be found 45 light years away.

Delta, which has no name is the famous variable star discovered by the deaf astronomer John Goodricke in York in 1784. It is the prototype Cepheid type variable which astronomers use today to work out how far away galaxies are. There is something called the period luminosity law.  A Cepheid's luminosity is directly related to its period of variation. The longer the pulsation period, the more luminous the star. This relationship was discovered by Miss Henrietta Leavitt at Harvard in 1912.

The importance of this discovery to astronomers was of course unknown to Goodricke but cepheid type variables are of immense importance to astronomers today trying to work out how far away galaxies and clusters are.

This would be John Goodricke’s last astronomical discovery of his very short life at the age of just 22.

Delta varies between magnitude 3.6 and 4.3 every 5 days and 9 hours. If you can locate delta try to watch it change in brightness as it goes through its cycle. Delta is about 887 light years away, it varies from a F supergiant to a G supergiant class star, with a surface temperature  which changes from 5,500’C to 6,800’C during its cycle.

Mu Cepheus the Garnet Star so named by William Herschel because of its striking red tint colour. It’s a M2 class red supergiant with a surface temperature of 3,500’C, mu is 2,800 light years away. Mu is a variable star it varies in brightness erratically between magnitude 3.4 and 5.1. Many different periods have been reported, but they are between either 860 days or 4,400 days.

The only star cluster I will mention is NGC 188 it cannot be seen with the naked eye as its brightness is only magnitude 10, meaning a small telescope would be needed to see it. NGC 188 is an open cluster and was discovered in 1825 by John Herschel who was the son of William Herschel who had discovered the planet Uranus in 1781.

Open clusters are much younger clusters than globular clusters.  The stars of open clusters usually drift apart after a few million years. However, because NGC188 lies far above the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy where there is far less gravitational interaction with the Milky Way the cluster has stayed together.

 It appears to be one of the oldest open clusters being about 6.8 billion years old. It lies at a distance of around 5,000 light years and is one of the closest clusters located near the Pole Star.

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Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope sent to Calcutta in 1903

 In 1903 Thomas Cooke & Sons of York supplied a 4.5 inch telescope to the Government Observatory in Calcutta, India. The head of the observatory was Mr Evershed, Attached to the telescope was a 5 inch Camera also supplied by Cookes.

The telescope was mounted on a Cooke iron pillar which were housed in a shed. This shed was mounted on wheels and rails that allowed it to be moved when the telescope was to be used.

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New Catalogue of Nebulae introduced in 1864

 New Catalogue of Nebulae 

By the English Churchman

Another splendid monument of Herschelian genius was laid before the Royal Society in January 1864, a gigantic catalogue of all the known nebulae compiled from every imaginable source.

No less than 5,063 objects are here set down, of which 2,307 are from Sir John Herschel’s own catalogue of 1833, 1,713 from his Cape observations and the residue from miscellaneous sources. The year 1860 has been adopted as the epoch for which all the mean places are computed, and not the least important feature is the systemised plan which has been adopted for describing the sizes of the various objects based on direct actual measurement.

This catalogue which will add one more to the many laurels already borne buy its distinguished author, will no doubt, be placed in the printer’s hands with as little delay as possible, but the expense of printing will be very considerable.

 

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Occultation by Jupiter observed from Canada in 1896 with Cooke telescopes

 Attempts were made on May 22^nd 1896 at several points across Canada to observe the occultation of  a 9^th magnitude star in Cancer by Jupiter. 

At the Toronto Observatory Mr F L Blake using the Cooke 6 inch refractor found the planet was too low in the sky for first class seeing, although the night was clear. 

Dr J C Donaldson of Fergus Ontario using a 3.25 inch Cooke & Sons refractor obtained a glimpse of the star, but the nearness to the horizon made observing very difficult. 

It is not known if any other observers further to the west observed the occultation.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The height of aurora

I saw the aurora of September 3^rd 1870 described by H C Key and I observed it from 10.00 to 11.00 PM but here it never reached quite to the zenith, and at 11.20 was no where high. Its brightest feature was then a distinct arch, the apex of whose central line was 12 degrees in altitude. If Mr Key’s description of the clear space of 7 or 8 degrees below the aurora in the S S E, applies to that time, it would seem that part of the aurora bordering the clear space cannot have been more than 25 miles above the Earth, and was more likely only 17 or 18 miles.

It would be well if the heights of the aurora were better known than they are; and I think if systematic observations were made simultaneously at different stations, pir knowledge of the subject would be largely increased. I am willing to be one of the observers is such an investigation, and Mr G J Symons the editor of the Meteorological Magazine , has expressed his readiness to aid.

T W Backhouse, Sunderland July 22^nd 1871

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