Cooke Telescope Tales - the disorderly apprentice

On Thursday November 3^rd 1859 J Chadwick esq apprentice summoned Mr Cooke, optician and mathematical instrument maker to the magistrates at the Guildhall in York for refusing to teach him his grade. 

Mr Cooke said that J Chadwick had grossly misbehaved and had absented himself on one or two occasions. Under these circumstances Mr Cooke refused to receive the lad into his service. 

The magistrate ordered the lad’s indentures to be dismissed. J Chadwick has since joined the Cape Mounted Rifles in South Africa.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Early photographs taken with Cooke telescopes

 Some of the early astronomical photographs were taken in England by astronomers using Thomas Cooke & Sons telescopes. 

In 1853 John Phillips in the Museum Gardens in York using a 6.25 inch telescope photographed the Moon, and in 1857 Mr Fry using Mr Howell’s 6.5 inch telescope in Brighton were amongst the first astrophotographers. 

At this period of time telescopes were designed for visual use and all the gentlemen astronomers had the problem using refractors of the difference between the actinic and visual foci. Reflecting telescopes did not suffer from such problems.

 The negatives obtained by both Phillips and Fry were about 1 inch in diameter.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Aurora seen in India in 1872

There was a massive aurora display on February 4^th 1872 seen all cross Europe, North Africa the Middle East, India and the Far East. It is seen as far south as the equator. The aurora storm was probably more powerful than the Carrington event of September 1^st, 1859

It was reported by astronomers on Britain including C Piazzi Smyth in Edinburgh, G M Seabrooke in Rugby, J Rand Capron and T Rand Capron in Guildford, S J Perry at Stonehurst Observatory and T W Webb at Hardwicke Vicarage.

 

Nature April 4^th 1872

Indian papers give the following additional accounts of the aurora of Feb 4^th: - Such a phenomenon has not been observed in the Punjab, or perhaps on India within living memory of man, and in consequence the remarks made by the natives and others born I the country were rather curious.

A curious circumstance took place at Raikote. About 100 Kooka families turned out in the most excited state and commenced those wild demonstrations from which the name Kooka is derived the men tore off their turbans, unloosed their hair, and began dancing and waving their arms about, and shouting that this was a token the Ram Singh had returned to his home. They were much mistaken to learn that they were mistaken.

At Sealkote many thought that the red in the sky was the reflection of the blaze of some hill forest on fire, and one individual at Jhelum suggested that it must be caused be some volcanic eruption in the Himalayas.

In another place a commissariat officer was thrown into an agony of terror, thinking it was his haystacks on fire.

A correspondent, writing from Madhopore, says: - “On the night of the 4^th February between 11 and 12 o’clock, there appeared in the sky a clear bright light, like fire which lasted about 14 minutes. It was so bright that we were able to see even the minutest objects; owing to its red colour the river appeared as though it were blood. The atmosphere for days has never been clear of clouds, and it seems as if a storm were portending. The lightning injured some natives on the 5^th February

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Cooke Telescope Tales - small Cooke telescope to Macclesfield in 1864

 Thomas Davenport of Macclesfield purchased from Thomas Cooke in 1864 a small telescope. It had a lens of 2.5 inches and came with a terrestrial eyepiece and leather sling case. I assume this was not for astronomical work. 

Davenport later in 1868 purchased from Thomas Cooke a brass pillar and claw table stand and two astronomical eyepieces. I don’t know if this was to mount the telescope he purchased in 1864 or if it was for another instrument.

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A little ramble through Crater the Cup

 The second of the small spring constellations adjoining Hydra the other being Corvus. Crater although very faint it is still one of the original 48 groups even though it contains no stars brighter than magnitude 3.5.

Crater represents the cup or goblet of Apollo and is associated with the neighbouring constellation of Corvus. The Romans and the Indians also knew it as a cup. Today it is often associated with the story of Corvus the Crow.

Early Arabic astronomers knew it as Al Ma’laf or the Stall, however later Arabic astronomers such as Al Batiyah, Badiye and Al Batinah knew it as an earthen vessel for storing wine.

In China some of the stars in Hydra together with the stars in crater were known as Yh, Yih or Yen this was the Wings or Flanks. While the whole of the constellation may have been known to the Chines as The Heavenly Dog which was shot at by Chang from the constellation of Leo.

There is something of a mystery with the named stars of Crater.

Alpha Crater is the only star to be named in the constellation, the Arab astronomers referred to it as Alhes which means the Cup. The strange thing is that alpha is not the brightest star in the constellation. Its magnitude is 4.1 and is 141 light years away. The star is a K class giant meaning that it is cooler than the Sun.

The brightest star in Crater is delta with a magnitude of 3.6 another K class giant star and is 163 light years away.

Could this be a situation whereby alpha has faded in brightness or delta has brightened since Bayer allocated the Greek letters in 1603.

The star which today is classified as beta which is a magnitude 4.5 and is an A class star is 296 light years away was regarded by the Arab astronomer Al Tizini as part of the Hydra with the name of Al Sharaasif or the Ribs of the Hydra.

There are no messier objects or bright deep sky objects to be seen in Crater.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - report from the Belgium Academy on Jupiter and Mars in 1871-73

 Bulletin de I Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres, et des Beaux Arts de Belgique, 1873, No. 11.

Among the papers in this report of the work of the Belgian Academy, is one by M. Terby, giving the results of observations on Mars and Jupiter in 1871 and 1872-3. It is illustrated by fourteen figures of Jupiter and twelve of Mars. The Jupiter drawings exhibit some remarkable changes in the two polar “ calottes ” or dark parts.

 In 1872, the north polar region was usually darker than the southern, while in 1873 the contrary was often the case, though the southern one was always of smaller dimension. The drawings also exhibit curious variations in the shape of the belts, as seen at successive dates when the rotation of the planet caused it to present the same portion of its surface to the observer. The Mars sketches may be advantageously compared with Browning's stereographs, and with drawings he published in the Intellectual Observer, vol. xii. ; but M. Terby’s telescope, only 9 centimétres of useful aperture,” or little more than 3.5 inches, could only give a distinct view of the more delicate markings in exceptionally fine weather.

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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 - Cooke telescope for sale in Ormskirk in 1968

 A Cooke Troughton 5 inch telescope was being offered for sale in Ormskirk by W A Howe in 1968. There was also a 14 foot diameter dome observatory for sale.

 The fact that this was advertised as a Cooke Troughton telescopes suggest it was post a relatively modern instrument being a post 1922 instrument.

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Hind's Crimson Star in Lepus

Astronomical Register Vol 3 February 1865

HIND’S CRIMSON STAR IN LEPUS

It will be in the recollection of many of your readers that some 15 years ago, Mr Hind announced that he had discovered in the constellation of Lepus “ a highly coloured crimson or even scarlet star”, which he further said was “by far the most deeply coloured object he had yet seen” (M N RAS ,X 141.)

The only other observations of it which I am acquainted is one by Scmidt, who stated, about ten years ago, that it was of the 7^th magnitude, and as he thought, rapidly gaining light but losing colour. This was I think in 1855.

Beyond having received the appellation of R Leporis from its being regarded as a decided variable, I do not think that much attention has been paid to it.

Having long been desirous of viewing what seemed to be a very curious and interesting object, I avail myself of the opportunity afforded by a moderately good night and an 8.5-inch refractor belonging to a relative, and last evening saw the star in question. Its light was of s very intense crimson colour, greatly surpassing in depth several of Sir J Herschel’s “Ruby” stars called by him “intense” &c and also Piazzi’s garnet sidus in Cepheus. The magnitude was determined by Dawes method of apertures was set down at 9.75. From this it would seem that the star had recovered its original colour and sunk to its original size in the ten years that have elapsed since 1855.

Unfortunately, the southerly declination of the star greatly interferes with its continued observation in this country, but it is evidently an object deserving of careful attention.

G F Chambers

Uckfield, Sussex

Jan 5^th 1865

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The Great Comet of 1861

 

Nature February 15th 1872

The Great Comet of 1861

The following observation may interest you. It is taken from a volume entitled “The Industrial Progress of New South Wales”, published by authority of the Colonial Government.

Under the head of Astronomical Progress is a paper by Mr Tebbutt, in which he says that while observing in Australia on the morning of July 1^st, 1861 (i.e. really, in the afternoon before sunset of our June 30^th), he noticed the widening out of the branches of the tail of the comet then visible. He remarks that this observation is very interesting when taken in connection with the announcement made by Mr hind, that “it appears not only possible, but even probable, that in the course of June 30^th 1861, the Earth passed through the tail of the comet, at a distance of perhaps two thirds of its length from the nucleus”.

There were at least two observers in England of what was probably the opposite effect of perspective (viz, the closing up of the branches of the tail) on the evening of June 30^th. The rapid, angular motion of one if the streamers was separately observed by Mr George Williams of Liverpool, and the Rev T W Webb, of Hardwick, the latter of whom has given a detailed account of his observations in the “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,” vol xxii, p311.

 According to these observations, our actual passage through the streamers of the tail must have taken place about sunset on the evening of June 30^th

A C Ranyard

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Cooke Telescope Tales - two Cooke telescopes for sale in 1945

 Two Cooke telescopes were being offered for sale in Newcastle in 1945 by Hartley Hopper. One was a 4 inch and the other was a 5 inch. I don’t have any information regarding the histories of these two telescopes.

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A little ramble through Corvus the Crow

 A small but quite prominent constellation in the spring sky. Corvus can be found low in the sky in the south just above Hydra the Water snake.

According to one legend Apollo sent the crow to bring the water of life but was unable to resist the unripe fruit of the fig tree, he let the cup of water (the constellation of Crater) fall to the ground. Realising that he was taking too long he hurried back to Apollo who discovered the truth and banished the crow to the sky. Another version has this same story but with Noah and the ark.

It’s the Romans who seem to call it Corvus while the Greeks referred to it as a raven. Other Greek names for the constellation are Avis Ficarius the Fig Bird and Emansor or One Who Stays Beyond His Time.

To the early Arabic astronomers, the constellation was known as Al Ajmal or the Camel or Al Hiba the Tent, while the Akkadian astronomers saw the constellation as Kurra or a Horse.

There does not appear to be any apparent reason for to association of Corvus with the Hydra, although there is a Euphratean myth, from back to classical days, making it one of the monster ravens of the brood of Tiamat that represented; and upon a tablet appears a title that may be for Corvus as the Great Storm Bird or Bird of the Desert, to which Tiamat gave sustenance just as Aratos  described the pecking of the folds of the Hydra.

The Hebrews knew the constellation as Orebh the Raven while the Chinese saw the stars as a portion of their great stellar division The Red Bird. While the individual stars in Corvus were seen by the Chinese as an imperial chariot riding upon the wind.

Four principal stars, Delta, Gamma, Epsilon, and Beta Corvi, form a quadrilateral shape, none are particularly bright but because they are in a barren part of the sky making the shape easy to see.

The brightest star in Corvus is gamma or Gienah which means ‘The Right Wing’ is a star of magnitude 2.6, Gienah is a B class giant star much hotter than the Sun, it lies at a distance 154 light years.

Beta which has no name from any Mediterranean peoples however in China it was known as Tso Hea or The Left Hand Linch Pin is a magnitude 2.7 and is located 146 light years away, it’s a G class  giant star cooler than the Sun.

Delta or Algorab, which means the ‘Crow’ is a magnitude 3.0 star lying 87 light-years from Earth. Algorab is an A class star.

Epsilon has the traditional name Minkar, which means ‘The Nostril of the Crow’ and is a magnitude 3.0 star lying at a distance of 318 light-years from Earth. It is an orange K class giant star and is cooler than the Sun.

Alpha is often called Alchiba which is the Arabic title for the whole constellation, however Ulug Beg and other Arabian astronomers called it Al Miiar al Ghurab or the Raven’s Beak. It’s a F class star with a magnitude of only 4.0 and is 49 light-years from Earth.

Corvus is another example of the system introduced by Johann Bayer in 1603 does not work. He allocated the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet to stars in a constellation in theory alpha is the brightest followed by beta all the way to omega. In Corvus alpha is actually the fourth brightest star.

 

There are no Messier objects the brightest dep sky object being the planetary nebula NGC 4361 but with a magnitude of 10.3 you will need  a moderate size telescope to see it.

 

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy -The Observing Society in 1870

The Observing Astronomical Society entered upon its second year of its existence on July 1^st 1870. The recent election of officers for the ensuing year has resulted in the re-election of the former president, treasurer and secretary and committee.

The Rev RE Hooppell  MA, LLD, FRAS is the president

Mr William F Denning, the treasurer and secretary

The following are members of the committee:

Messrs SP Barkas, FGS, James Cook, A W Blacklock, MB, H Michell, Whitley and Albert P Holden.

The society numbers forty six members, and was formed for the purpose of aiding the spread of practical astronomy.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - telescope for sale in 1952

In 1952 a telescope with a 5 inch lens made by Thomas Cooke & Sons was for sale. It was the property of Mr H L Dilks who I believe had been a previous president of the Manchester Astronomical Society. As is often the case I don’t know who might have owned the telescope before Mr Dilks.

 Although the lens and equatorial mount, iron pillar and clockwork drive were made by Cooke the tube and finder telescope had been made by Wary.

 In addition to the telescope a small portable wooden observatory was also offered for sale.

 

                                                       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 - order for telescope by Royal Astronomical Society in 1865

 In 1865 the Royal Astronomical Society at Somerset House, Strand, London ordered a 4.25 inch telescope from Thomas Cooke &Sons. It was mounted on an iron pillar and had a driving clock.

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Cooke Telescope Tales - Cooke telescope to the Isle of Wight

 Charles Pritchard FRAS (1808-1893)  of Hurst Hill on the Isle of Wight purchased from Thomas Cooke & Sons in 1865 an equatorial mounting for his Cooke telescope. I can only assume he wanted to upgrade the mounting for the telescope he had .

Earlier in  the late 1850s Pritchard purchased from Cooke & Sons a 6.75 inch telescope.

 Pritchard was elected Savilian professor of Astronomy at Oxford University in 1870. 

In 1882 he undertook the study of the brightness of 2,784 stars, this was an important  project at the time and for this work he was presented with the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1886.

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - US Naval Observatory report from 1867

In a report from the Nature magazine of November 10th 1870 says that the astronomical and meteorological observations made at the United States Naval Observatory during 1867 have just been published in a large quarto volume. 

There is an appendix of reports on the observations of the total eclipse of the Sun on August 7 1869, the various phases of which are beautifully illustrated by chromo-lithographs, and the various instruments made use of are particularly described.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - locations for future observatories in Chile

 Academy Newspaper Saturday 29th August 1874 

 

Dr Philippi states in Das Ausland that the boundary treaty concluded between Chili and Bolivia describes the borderland according to the old notions of theoretical geography, which gave the Cordilleras of that region sierras, deep valleys, streams, &c., notwithstanding that he had explained its true character in his published journey through the desert of Atacoma.

He found a huge plain, on which were scattered isolated mountains, mostly extinct volcanoes, never forming chains, valleys, or passes, but huge clefts often 500 or 600 feet deep, with perpendicular walls, that appeared to have resulted from aqueous action at some former period. At present it only rains about once in from twenty to fifty years. 

From his description it is evident that a model of this district would look much like certain portions of the moon as seen through a good telescope.

 

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A little ramble through Corona Borealis the Northern Crown

 Corona Borealis or the Northern Crown is a spring constellation with a very noticeable curve shape of stars, it was the only stellar crown known to the Greek astronomers including Eratosthenes, but they referred to it as a wreath. The legend which appears to be most common today is that Bacchus the Roman god of wine gave it as a present to his new wife Ariadne, after her death it was cast by him into the night sky for ever.  This story first seems to have appeared around 500 BCE and was recorded by the Greek philosopher Pherecydes. The constellation consists of an arc of seven stars the brightest of which is alpha or Alphecca.

The Arab astronomer called it Azophi Parmi or the Shield, whereas most other Arabic astronomers called it Al Iklil al Shamaliyyah which by the time of Ulug Beg had been shortened to Illil which means Corona Borealis.

In the Alphonsine Tables the constellation was referred to as Al Muni al Khatar or The Bright One of the Dish although other references give it as Al Malf al Katar or the Loop of the Wreath.

The Hebrews called it Ataroth or Crown while the Syrians called it Ashtaroth or their goddess Astarte who was worshipped as an ancient near eastern goddess sometimes linked with Venus.

The Shawnee Indians of North America knew this area of the sky as the Celestial Sisters, the fairest of them being the wife of the hunter White Hawk, which is our star Arcturus.

In Celtic mythology Corona was Caer Arianrod, The House of Arianrod or Entlenn, the sister of Gwydyon and daughter of Don, The Fairy King, this name bearing a singular resemblance to that of the classical owner of the crown.

The brightest star is alpha or Alphecca was known to the Arab astronomers as the Bright One of the Dish. Alpha is very occasionally called Gemma which means The Pearl of the Crown. Alphecca has a magnitude of 2.2 and lies at a distance of 75 light years and is an A class star making it hotter than the Sun.

The other six stars in the crown are Theta, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and iota, all can be seen on a clear night, but none are as easily seen as Alphecca.

Although a small constellation it does play host to two very important variable stars.

R Coronae Borealis is a yellow supergiant which usually is just at the limit of naked eye visibility at magnitude 6.0 but at unpredictable times it will fade to as faint as magnitude 14. When the star is this faint a reasonably powerful telescope is needed to find it. Astronomers believe the reason for these light variations are caused by carbon rich particles building up in the atmosphere blocking the light from the star reaching Earth. These particles then disappear, and the star then brightens once again. This cycle in light variations can often take many years.

There are only about 100 of these stars known. R itself was discovered by Edward Piggot in 1795 while living in the city of Bath.

Edward Pigott worked with John Goodricke in York between 1781 and 1786, they were what I called the Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy because of the work they undertook in this field of astronomy.

R Coronae Borealis is the prototype of the R Coronae Borealis class of variable stars. It is one of only two R Coronae Borealis variables bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, along with RY Sagittarius.

R lies 4,560 light years away the maximum recorded brightness of the star varies between magnitude 5.7 to 14.8 and it is a G class star and is hotter than the Sun.

The other variable star is T Coronae Borealis  also known as the Blaze Star, it’s a nova which erupted in 1866 reaching magnitude 2.2 and going novae again in 1946 reaching magnitude 3.0. It is called the Blaze Star because until around 20 years ago it was one of the few stars that had been observed to go novae more than once. Astronomers know today that all novae erupt more than once on times scales of decades or centuries.

The term Nov was used by astronomers in the medieval period to describe a star which suddenly appears from apparently nowhere, these were in days before the invention of the telescope. The term nova means new; this is because astronomers thought that these were new stars being created. We now know that it is a star going through a period of its timeline of evolution.

A nova is a binary system of two stars one a small hot white dwarf star the other a larger cooler giant star. The white dwarf is the remains of a much older star that has blown away all its outer gases and all that is left is the core of the star. This will happen to our Sun in around 4 billion years’ time when it expands from its present-day yellow dwarf state to that of a red giant. After that phase all  that will be left is the core or a white dwarf.

The small white dwarf which is made of material that is incredibly compressed together. It is so compressed that a tablespoonful of white dwarf material would weigh over ten tons. This is called degenerate material.

The white dwarf pulls material from the giant cooler star towards it; this material then forms a disc around the white dwarf. Material from this disc then cascades onto the surface of the white dwarf, as this gas is cooler than the white dwarf when it hits the surface the gas kind of sizzles and throws a shell of gas into space. This then makes the star become bright for a period of time, it becomes a nova. After a while it will fade from view.

According to astronomers who study this star it was expected to go nova again in either 2024 or 2025, so far as least as far as the summer of 2025 is concerned nothing has yet happened. I am sure that astronomers will be carefully watching this star for the next few years.

Corona Borealis contains a cluster of around 400 distant galaxies over 1 billion light years away, the galaxies can only be seen with large telescopes.

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

 

Cooke Telescope Tales - Cooke telescope and Worcester Sauce

 If you think of Worcester Sauce you may think of Lea & Perrins, what you might struggle to find is a link with astronomy. However in 1867 James Dyson Perrins (1823-1887) purchased a 3.25 inch educational telescope from Thomas Cooke & Sons York. 

James Dyson Perrins was the son of William Henry Perrins who joint founded the company in 1837 with John Wheeley Lea. He would help run the company after the death of his father.

 James was keen to increase the educational institutions in Worcester. He also supported the Public Library and many charitable institutions in Worcester.

 As is often the case I have no further information on what happened tom the telescope

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

 

Cooke Telescope Tales - Cooke telescope sold to a banker in Cambridge in 1864

 Algernon Peckover FRAS (1803-1894) was a banker from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and in 1864 he purchased a Thomas Cooke & Sons 5.5 inch telescope. 

There were 5 astronomical eyepieces and it came with a plain equatorial mounting. The cost was £130 (today 2025 that would be around £21,000).

 In 1865 he purchased a driving clock for the equatorial.

                                                        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 - accident to Lord Rosse in 1864

We regret to hear that a serious accident happened to Lord Rosse on the 19^th March 1864, while superintending the felling of some trees at Parsontown, one of which in falling, struck him and rendered him insensible for a quarter on an hour. It is reported that he is progressing favourably.

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Dr Steinhiel's telescope of 1864

Mr De La Rue reports most favourably on the performance of a telescope of new construction sent by Dr Steinheil for exhibition at his reception at Willis’s Rooms, on June 11^th 1864.

The aperture was 4 and one eighth inches and the focal length only 40 inches. This telescope has been purchased by Mr F W Radford. Dr Steinhail is now engaged upon a telescope of 6 inches aperture and only inches focus.

 

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Cooke Telescope Tales - A Cooke telescope for St John's Wood London in 1859

In 1859 W. Mitchell of St.Johns Wood , London purchased a 3.5 inch telescope from Thomas Cooke. The telescope had a focal length of 4 feet and 4 inches, plus 4 astronomical and 1 terrestrial eyepieces, It cam with an equatorial mount. The cost was £60. In 2025 prices that would be around £9.600. 

I have no other information at the moment about W Mitchell.

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

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.

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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 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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