Rambling Astronomer taking a short break

I will be taking a break from Saturday 20th September until Saturday 4th October. I will be visiting the gamma quadrant, I will however be back in the alpha quadrant for my next blog  on Monday 6th October.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The Moon covered in salt an 1873 view

 Nature January 23^rd 1873

The Moon’s Surface

May not the white, telescopic appearance of the moon’s surface, resembling snow in many parts, be explained by the fact that the extinct volcanoes of our satellite are covered with crystals of salt?

Any person who is accustomed to view the moon through a telescope must, I think, have been struck by the dazzling snow white appearance of the mountains. May not an explanation of this be deduced from the experience gained by the last eruption of Vesuvius?

One of the most curious phenomena observed is the power of burning lava to retain an enormous quantity of water, and salt, which it does not allow to escape till it begins to cool.

The formation of salt is shown generally over the whole stretch of lava emitted in 1872. Soon after the surface cools it is covered with a light crust of salt.

Is it not, therefore, probable that the numerous lava beds of the extinct volcanoes in our satellite may be coated with salt, bleached to the whiteness of snow?

C H W Merlin

British Consulate, Athens, November 23^rd 1872

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A little ramble through Delphinus the Dolphin

 Delphinus the Dolphin is a small constellation that can be seen in the summer months close to the star Altair one of the summer triangle stars.

There are many stories attached to the constellation,  one of the most popular is from Greece where it is said that a dolphin rescued the musician Arion who was travelling from Tarentum to Corinth and while playing music charmed some dolphins. When the crew of the ship he was travelling on robbed him and threw him overboard the dolphins rescued him and carried Arion on their backs the shore and safety. And for that good deed a dolphin was placed in the sky forever.

It is one of the smaller of the classical constellations and as always there are lots of stories concerning it. There is some suggestion that Hipparchus wanted to place the stars in the constellation Delphinus into the constellation of Equuleus or Foal. However, this dd not happen and it stayed as a separate star group, it was always regarded as the most remarkable of the marine creatures.

The stars alpha, beta, gamma and zeta Delphinus are often described as representing Job’s Coffin. No one seem to know why or when this term was first used.

The Roman poet Ovid said it was clarum sidus or the famous star of the girls and it was personified  as Amphitrite the goddess of the sea, because the dolphin induced Amphitrite to become the wife of Neptune.

The Hindu astronomers knew it as shi-shu-mara or a porpoise which was also ascribed to Draco.

The Arab astronomer Al Biruni gave it the title Al Ka fidor the Riding Camel, while other Arabian astronomers referred to it as Dulfirm a marine animal friendly to man.

Delphinus forms a shape like a small version of the Plough. The two brightest stars are beta and alpha in that order; beta is an F class star and has a magnitude of 3.6 its 97 light years away and has a surface temperature of about 6,500 degrees making it warmer than our Sun. Alpha on the other hand is a B class star with a magnitude of  3.8 and with a surface temperature of around 11,500 degrees and is 241 light years away.

Neither star appears to have a classical name but in 1814 in the Palermo star  catalogue the names Sualocin were given to alpha while beta became Rotanev. It caused a real mystery it was a puzzle that Admiral Smythe was unable to solve. This is strange because he knew the staff at the Palermo Observatory very well. It would be TW Webb who solved the puzzle, he realised that be reversing  the letters and reading Nicolaus Venator, the Latinised form of Niccolo Cacciatore, this was the name of the assistant and successor of Piazzi at Palermo.

Epsilon which at magnitude 4.0 has surprisingly got an Arabic name, it was known as Al Dhanab al Dulfim or the Dolphin’s Tail. Its 330 light years away and is a B class giant star with a very hot temperature of 13,000 degree. While in China the star was known as Pae Chaou or the Rotten Melon.

Gamma which has no name is a F class star 115 light years away, with a magnitude of 4.3 and a temperature of around 6,000 degrees similar to the Sun which has a surface temperature of 5,800 degrees

Delta also has no name is a magnitude 4.3 star an A class star hotter than the Sun and is 223 light yeas distant.

 

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Comet Gale 1912 discovered with a Cooke telescope

 Derby Daily Telegraph Tuesday 15^th October 1912 

 

Gale’s Comet has been well seen with the 6in. equatorial at Mr. F. J. Hanbury's Observatory, Brockhurst, East Grinstead, during the past week. The Superintendent, however, says in a letter to the Times that it is somewhat north of its predicted place in the ephemeris and the difference is on the increase amounting to nearly one degree last night. It is rising rapidly in declination and  appears be brightening, also; when first seen it was estimated about fifth magnitude  but now nearer the fourth.  It, was really a fine object last night, being found in twilight.  On a dark sky it had an extensive coma, with a large bright nucleus and a tail at least half degree length. It  was very plain in the finder, and was about south of Alpha Serpentis. sighting along the telescope it was seen with the naked eye, as a little misty spot just below the bright star. It is evidently proving to be a more interesting object than was at first anticipated, and seems likely to remain in view for some little time. 

My note 

The comet was discovered by Walter Gale at Sydney NSW on September 8^th 1912. He may have made the discovery with his 6.5 inch Thomas Cooke telescope

                                                         www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Theft of OG from Alleghany Observatory in 1872

On the night of July 7^th/8^th 1872, the object glass of the Alleghany Observatory was stolen, as also a few eyepieces belong to the Transit Instrument.

It is thought that the object of the thief is to try to extort a large reward for its return, but Mr Langley, the director of the Observatory, has resolved not to offer a reward, nor guarantee immunity from punishment to the culprit. This he deems a duty to others who may have the charge of similar instruments.

                                                        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 - The 9.5 inch Cooke telescope at Chevreuse Observatory in 1908

 Maurice Farman and the Chevreuse Observatory 

As far as I am aware this is the not the same Maurice Farman who was an early pioneer in the days of flight, but I am always ready to be proved wrong. 

In 1908 while observing at the Chevreuse Obseravtory near Paris, an observatory I have never heard of before observed 1,100 double stars while using a 9.5 inch Cooke telescope.  

His observations were apparently quite brief and usually consisted of just one line of information, many additional notes  were drawn from historical observations of the stars he observed in 1908.

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Toulouse Observatory in 1876

 Academy Newspaper Saturday 20^th May 1876  

 Observations at Toulouse

This observatory, which was placed under the direction of M. Tisserand in 1874, has recently been supplied with a large reflector of thirty-two inches aperture, which has been at once devoted to an examination of the great nebula in Orion and of the 155 stars which Otto Sttuve has observed in it. Among these stars are many which are supposed by M. Struve to be variable, and M. Tisserand has found that several of these are now invisible, while he has observed thirty-two new stars which M. Struve had not recorded, though fifteen of them appear in Bond’s catalogue.

 Of the remaining seventeen the majority are extremely faint, but there are two of the thirteenth magnitude which Struve could hardly have overlooked if they had then been as bright as they are now. On the whole, M. Tisserand’s observations strongly support the view that many of the stars in this nebula, and most probably physically connected  with it, are undergoing change, an import an important  point in its bearing on the nebular theory and the evolution of planetary systems.

 M. Tisserand has also observed the satellites of Uranus and some phenomena of Jupiter’s satellites. Since, for the eclipses of the latter, the  observation consists in noting the disappearance  of the last minute portion of the satellite or of the reappearance of the first faint trace, much will depend on the size of the telescope, and  therefore observations with such a large instrument as the Toulouse reflector will possess a peculiar  value, as giving a much closer approximation to the true time of the phenomenon than could be possible with small telescopes. M. Tisserand's observations are given in recent numbers of the Comptes Rendus.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Solar Eclipse in 1898 observed with Cooke telescopes

 Total Solar Eclipse, January 22^nd 1898 English Preparations by Edward Maunder FRAS 

The English astronomers observed the January 22^nd 1898 eclipse of the Sun from various sites. The telescopes  are all achromatic Cooke lenses of 4.5 inch aperture, 5 feet 10 inches focus, and a single quartz lens of 5 inch aperture, 4 feet 9 inches focus   

The third station at Wardha, on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway from Bombay to Nagpur, will be occupied by Mr Newall, who proposes to use a large spilt spectroscope, with two prisms of 62 degrees, in the attempt to determine the speed of rotation of the corona by the relative displacements of its lines as observed east and west of the Sun. 

In the same neighbourhood, Captain Hills will probably fix his apparatus, which will consist of two slit spectroscopes, having the slit tangential to the Sun’s limb at the point of second contact and diametral receptively. The slits are 1.5 x 0.004 inches and 2 x 0.004 inches respectively; and the prisms are, for the first spectroscope, of two flint prisms of 60 degrees, 4.5 inch base, 2.5 inch height at maximum deviation for Hydrogen gamma and for the second spectroscope, of four quartz prisms of 60 degrees, 3.25 inch base, 2.75 inch height at maximum deviation for Hydrogen epsilon. The collimator and camera lenses are single quartz lenses, of 2.5 inch aperture , 30 inch focus and 3 inch aperture and 36 inch focus.

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A little ramble through Cygnus the Swan

 Cygnus the Swan sometimes known as the northern cross is a majestic constellation in the summer skies, its brightest star Deneb is one of the three stars that form the summer triangle. The other two are Altair in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle and Vega in Lyra the Lyre.

In ancient Greece the constellation was sometimes referred to as a bird or on some occasions a hen. Today we call the constellation a swan and this probably due to Aratos the Greek poet and philosopher who saw the group as a ‘quickly flying swan’.

When the Romans adopted the title we have now, our constellation became the mythical swan identified with Cycnus, the son of Mars, or the brother of Phaethon, transformed at the river Padus and transported to the sky. The constellation was also identified with Leda, the friend of Jupiter and mother of Castor, Pollux and Helena.

The modern-day Cygnus may have originated on the Euphrates, for the tablets show a stellar bird of some kind, perhaps Urakhga, the original of the Arabs’ Rukh, the Roc, that Sinbad knew well.

At all events its present figuring did not originate with the Greeks, for the history of the constellation had been entirely lost to them, suggesting that they were not the inventors of at least some of the star groups attributed to them.

In Arabia although occasionally known as Al Ta’ir al Arduf the Flying Eagle it is usually known as Al Dajajah, the Hen.

Cygnus is usually shown in full flight down the Milky Way, ‘The Steam of Heaven’, but old drawings show it apparently just springing from the ground.

Christian astronomers of the Middle Ages see the Cross of Calvary, or Christi Crux in the sky these descend today when we see the Northern Cross in Cygnus.

The brightest star in Cygnus is alpha or Deneb, which comes from the Arabic Al Dhanab or Hen’s Tail. The star has also been called by other Arabic names such as Arided or the Follower and Aridif the Hindmost. Deneb is part of the summer triangle it does appear the faintest of the stars compared to Altair and Vega. However, appearance can be deceptive because although Deneb appears the faintest it is in fact the brightest. This is because it is much further away than the other two stars.

Deneb is an A class supergiant star around 2,600 light years away with a surface temperature of about 8,700 degrees much hotter than our Sun which has a surface temperature of around 5,800 degrees.

Albireo of beta this name is used universally today is in no way associated with the Arab astronomers.  Apparently, the name was first applied due to a misunderstanding as to the word’s ab ireo in the description of the constellation in the 1515 version of the Almagest. The Arabs referred to the star as Al Minnar al Dajajah or the Hen’s Beak.

Albireo to the naked eye appears as one star, it is however a fantastic double star when viewed through a small telescope. Surprisingly although labelled as beta, Albireo is fainter than gamma, delta and epsilon Cygnus.

The star appears as a magnitude 3.2 object and is a K class giant star making it cooler than the Sun, it lies at around at a distance 395 light years.

Gamma Cygnus or Sadr which is Arabic for the Hen’s Breast the star has a magnitude of 2.2 and is an F class giant star with a surface temperature of about 5,800 degrees and is about 1,800 light years away.

Epsilon Cygnus or Gienah to the Arab astronomers which means the Wing has a magnitude of 2.5 is a K class giant star with a temperature of about 4,500 degrees and is 73 light years away.

The star called P Cygnus was discovered in August 1600 either by either the Dutch map maker Willem Blaeu or the Dutch optician Janson. It was classified as a nova, the term which was used then to signify any star which appeared in the sky where previously there had been none. The term nova is Latin for New; we still use the term today. It was labelled “P” in the star catalogue Uranometria which was produced by Johannes Bayer in 1603.

It was numbered 27 in Tycho’s catalogue for Cygnus with the designation ‘nova anni 1600 in pectore Cygni’ Kepler through it worthy of a monograph in 1606 while Christiaan Huygens in the 17th century called it the ‘Revenante of the Swan’ due to its light changes.

Six years after its discovery it started to fade in brightness until in 1626 it was below naked eye visibility. It then brightened again in 1655 but faded somewhat by 1662. There was another outburst in 1665 following this there were numerous fluctuations in brightness. Since 1715 it has remained fairly constat as 5^th magnitude star.

Today the star is classed as a Luminous Blue Variable star it is a B class giant star around 5,300 light years away and has a surface temperature of a whooping 18,500 making it much hotter than the Sun.

Between the stars gamma and beta is the variable star chi which can vary in brightness from magnitude 3.3 when it is easy to see down to magnitude 14.2 when a large telescope will be needed to see it. Chi is a Mira type variable star named after omicron ceti or Mira known as the Wonderful the prototype star of this class of variable stars. It is a M giant class star, much cooler than the Sun.

61 Cygni has the distinction of being the first star apart from the Sun to have its distance worked out. In 1838 Frederick Bessel said the star is 11.4 light years away. It was worked out by using the parallax method. 61 is a K class dwarf star with a magnitude of 5.2.

Sir John Flamsteed 1646 -1719 the first astronomer royal produced a star atlas, it was published posthumously in 1725. He noted bright stars tin the various constellations he could see from Britain. The star 61 Cygnus was the 61^st star he catalogued in this constellation.

The last bright nova seen in our galaxy was Nova Cygni 1975, no known as V 1500 Cygnus when  at its brightest it rose to magnitude 1.8. It was discovered by Kentaro Osada in Japan. We are certainly due for another bright one, so it is always worth while watching the skies.

There are two Messier objects in Cygnus

Messier 29

An open cluster discovered by Messier in 1764, a young cluster around 13 million years old lying at a distance of 7,000 light years. It shines at a magnitude of 7.0 meaning binoculars to find it.

Messier or M39 is another open cluster that can be seen as a fuzzy light patch of light north of Deneb shining at a magnitude or 4.6. It was first recorded by Aristotle in 325 BCE as a cometary looking object. M39 lies about 950 light years away and only contains about 30 stars. It was discovered by Messier in 1764.

NGC 7000 or the North American Nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1786. This nebula is lying close to Deneb. Some people claim it may be visible to the naked eye under good, dark conditions, and a preferred object for amateur astrophotographers. Its mag is 4.4 but spread over a wide area.

It is called the North American nebula because it has the same shape as North America and is a great favourite with astronomers to photograph.  It was first photographed by Max Wolf on December 12, 1890.

The distance to the North America Nebula is estimated at 1,600 light years.

Next door to the North American Nebula is the Pelican Nebula IC 5070 with a magnitude of 8.0 and this cannot be seen with the naked eye. Both the North American and Pelican are favourite for astrophotographers.

NGC 6992

The Veil nebula a supernova remnant from an explosion between 10,000 to 20,000 years ago .it lies next to the 4th magnitude star 52 Cygnus. First seen by William Herschel in 1784 with a magnitude of 7.0, a telescope is needed to see it. Again, it’s a favourite of astrophotographers

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Photography at The Melbourne Telescope in 1872

 Nature July 18^th 1872

The Melbourne Argus states that valuable work is being performed with the great telescope at the Melbourne Observatory.

At a recent meeting of the Royal society, Mr Ellery, the Government Astronomer, stated that some photographs of the Moon had been obtained better than any he had any knowledge of.

The picture of the Moon taken in the telescope was about three inches in diameter, while the primary  pictures of the photographs of the Moon hitherto made public by Mr De La Rue were only three quarters or even seven eighths of an inch in diameter, though subsequently enlarged to something like two feet.

Nature July 25^th 1872 

The Melbourne Telescope

Mr Ellery has been so good as to send me an enlargement of the lunar photograph taken with the great Melbourne telescope. This picture, Mr Ellery tells me was taken on the second evening trial; it is very beautiful, although not so critically sharp as I have obtained with my Newtonian equatorial of 13 inches aperture, and a little more than 10 feet focal length.

This sharpness, however, is a mere question of the shadiness of the atmosphere; and I feel persuaded that pictures will be taken with the Melbourne telescope far surpassing any hitherto procured.

In my telescope the focal length varies from 1 inch to 1 and two eights inch in diameter, according to the distance of the Moon from the earth.

The primary picture of the Melbourne telescope (an enlargement has been sent to me) is 3 and 3 sixteenths in diameter; hence the structure of the collodion and minute defects in it are of much less importance then when smaller instruments are used.

The employment of the great Melbourne telescope for astronomical photography cannot fail to be of great advantage to astronomy, and I should be very glad to see a similar instrument t work in England, notwithstanding its much-abused climate. 

Warren De La Rue

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - The Nice Observatory in France 1883

 St James’s Budget Newspaper Saturday October 27^th 1883 

One of the finest observatories in Europe is now almost completed at Nice, and the work of observation has already commenced, under the direction of M. Perrotin, the French astronomer who conducted the expedition to Patagonia for the observation of the transit of Venus.

The importance of this new undertaking may be judged of from the fact that more than £80,000 has already been spent upon it, and the total cost, when all is complete, will not fall far short of £120,000. This enterprise is due entirely to the munificence of M. Bischoffsheim, of Paris, and is consequently considered a patriotic work which will help to redeem the reputation of France in the world of science.

 The smaller of the two largest telescopes in the observatory is now in working order. It measures seven metres in length, and the objective 18.38 centimetres in diameter. The larger equatorial telescope will cost for the instrument alone £14.000. This telescope is 18 metres in length, and the diameter of the object lass is 76 centimetres; yet it can be moved with the slightest touch of the hand and follows with ease every movement of the planets.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Transit of Mercury in 1907 seen with Cooke telescope from Mauritius

The transit of Mercury was observed on November 14^th 1907 from the Royal Alfred Observatory in Mauritius using a Cooke 6 inch refractor. The transit which was seen through a partly  cloudy sky and the limb of the Sun was described as being boiling. Mercury appeared as a clear cut black disc, perfectly circular with no spot or fringe. 

There were 11 photographs taken during the transit with the 6 inch Cooke. The telescope  had ben supplied to Mauritius by the colonial government in1874 in order to observe the transit of Venus.

                                                    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 - Cooke telescope at French Exposition in 1855

The last French Monarch of France Napoleon III who was nephew to the Emperor Napoleon was rebuilding Paris in 1855 and wanted he Exposition of that year to be the most impressive. The Paris Expositions were begun in 1789. 

Although Napoleon wanted it to be the greatest art and industrial event ever staged it had already been eclipsed by the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in Britain in 1851. The exposition would run from June to November 1855. 

Paris Exposition 1855

Among the exhibitors was Thomas Cooke of York who took the brave step of exhibiting a variety of optical equipment including a 7.5 inch equatorial with a clock work drive. 

Cooke was exhibitor No. 392 and was described as selling astronomical and nautical instruments. He was in the 8^th section ‘Arts connected with Science and Education’. 

For Cooke it was a great success not only because he won a First Class Medal for his 7.5 inch telescope he also made some very good contacts including the astronomer  Warren De La Rue. 

He also met Lt Gen Edward Sabine, astronomer, geophysicist and explorer and Lt Col Strange from the East India Company, the latter two would be very important in ensuring that Cooke theodolites being used in the great survey of India. 

He also introduced himself to the astronomers of Europe and in the following years there would be orders for telescopes and observatories from countries such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Russia and Sweden.

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - French obsrvations of the Transit of Venus

 Academy Newspaper Saturday 22^nd May 1875 

Transit of Venus.

Detailed reports from the French Transit of Venus expeditions to St. Paul’s Island and to Peking are given in the Comptes Rendus. At the former station, the transit occurred in the midst of a tremendous storm, but, comforted by the statement of the fishermen that the day of the new moon (which occurred on December 9), was always fine, M. Mouchez made every preparation, and was rewarded with complete success, the sky clearing just before the first internal contact, and clouding over again completely half an hour after egress. Although passing clouds interfered somewhat with the photography, no fewer than 443 daguerreotypes and 142 collodion negatives were obtained during the whole transit, and after deducting a certain number of unsatisfactory plates, there still remain 439 which will be availabe for measurement.

 With regard to the eye observations M. Mouchez saw a bright ring of light surrounding the part of the planet outside the sun, which he attributes to the atmosphere of Venus; and, further, an aureola, which seemed independent of the planet, and behaved just like a solar atmosphere. It is rather remarkable that while M. Mouchez, with the large eight-inch telescope, found great difficulty in fixing the time of internal contact with anything like precision on account of this aureola, his companion, at the six-inch telescope, saw nothing of It, and made what he considered to be most accurate observations. M. Mouchez, however, places most reliance on the micrometer measures and on the photographs.

 At Peking the observers were equally fortunate, though passing clouds caused great anxiety. Both internal contacts were well observed, a slight ligament being seen with the six-inch telescope, but no ring of light; while, with the eight-inch, nothing was seen but a few fringes. Contrary to what was anticipated, the Chinese received the expedition well, and even marked attention was paid them by some of the highest officials, while the dowager empresses showed their interest in the event by asking for a photograph of the phenomenon. The longitude of the French station was determined within one and a half seconds of time, and was also carefully connected by triangulation with the American station under Professor Watson's charge, while a survey of the town of Peking was made after the transit, the party being detained for two months by ice in the river.

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Cooke Telescope Tales - Cooke telescope at Eton School in 1870

In 1870 one of the masters possible H G Madan at Eton School decided that they would provide a telescope. They chose a 5.9 in Thomas Cooke & Sons Refractor. The observatory was also made by Cookes. The observatory was erected on the roof of the western tower of the New Schools. It is square and surmounted by a revolving dome. 

Although a telescope on a roof will never be completely free from vibration it is reduced to a minimum by supporting the telescope on two massive trussed iron girders stretching across the observatory. The floor is supported quite independently. 

The telescope which was up the normal Cooke standards was supplied with the new Cooke clockwork driving system which was designed by the late Thomas Cooke. 

The science master at Eton School was  H G Madan who was the brother of Falconer Madan who was himself the grandfather of Venetia Burney who suggested the name Pluto for that newly discovered planet in 1930.

 I believe that the Eton telescope is still in use today in a different observatory located next to Eton Golf Course and is used by the Herschel Astronomical Society.

                                                        www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Red Moon Rising and the Northern Lights

On Sunday September 7^th there will be the chance to see the last Lunar Eclipse of the year. To see the event, you need to be looking towards the east or southeast horizon at around 7.30pm. And there is more, the Northern Lights might be visible as well.

An eclipse of the Moon occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth. The Moon does not shine it reflects the sunlight that strikes it. Moonlight is reflected sunlight.

When the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow light from the Sun can still reach it buy passing through the atmosphere of the Earth, however the blue end of the spectrum is blocked by the atmosphere while the red end passes through, this means that the normal white coloured moon turns into a wonderful coppery red coloured moon.

Although totality for this eclipse lasts 82 minutes which will be seen in some parts of the world, in Britain, we will see the very end of the total phase as the Moon rises. Moonrise is at around 7.30pm at about the same time that totality finishes, however for the next hour or so it will still be possible to see a slightly less red looking partially eclipsed moon rising in the sky.

You will need a very clear east or southeast horizon to see the eclipse any hills trees of large buildings will block your view.

And as if that was not enough for one evening the Sun on September 4^th unleashed a CME or Coronal Mass Ejection which is a mass ejection of magnetic material that is scheduled to hit the Earth on the evening of September 7^th later in the evening after the eclipse.

If we are lucky we might an eclipse of the Moon and  a display of the Northern Lights all on one evening To see the Northern Lights look  after about 9.30pm to the north and you might see the northern lights.

If it is cloudy on Sunday evening both the eclipse and the Northern Lights may not be seen.

                                                      www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Mars observed in 1865

The Planet Mars

During the oppositions of 1862 and1864, we have made upwards of 100 drawings of the planet Mars, on object of so much interest, from the changing phases of its very Earth-like surface; and we trust that a selection from them arranged so as to render a comparison of both series at once easy and obvious. The recurrence of the markings in each series tends to the conclusion of their general permanence, modified nethertheless apparently, by the difference of position of the planet’s axis by atmospheric causes on its surface, as is very observable in Nos. 1 and 6 of Mr Banks’ 1862 set, which differ but a few minutes in Martial time.

Drawings by Mr Banks

Each series shows the most interesting phases at intervals during one rotation, and the Nos of 1862 and 1864, synchronise respectively as far as practicable; but the exhibition of remarkable features has been deemed of mire consequence than a rigid adherence to differences in time. There is consequently, a greater interval between the first than the last three of each set.

The dark markings are usually supposed to be analogous to our seas; but we suggest, for further consideration, whether when near the centre of he disc, they exhibit the characteristic reflection n of a fluid surface under a vertical sun? The southern “snow zone”, so conspicuous in 1862, was much less striking during the last opposition, but the northern polar regions, which has since come into view, appeared to have much diffused light about it, terminated in some views, by luminous points, connected by a serrated outline. This is most decidedly seen in Mr Green, No 4, 1864, where, from irradiation, it sensibly impaired the true figure of the disc.

Drawings by Mr Green

The drawings from which the accompanying series have been carefully reduced were, as already stated , made independently by Mr Banks at Ealing and Mr Green at St John’s Wood; and they venture, from their professional familiarity with the pencil, to claim for them the truthfulness which is acquired by practice in rendering upon paper the impressions made upon the eye whilst their fidelity to the originals has been secured by Mr Green lithographing them himself.

The instruments employed were by Mr Banks, a Tulley of 3.75 inch aperture and 63 inch focal length; by Mr Green a French object glass of fine quality, 4.25 inch aperture and 58-inch focus. The powers used were from 160 to 240; less than the former being insufficient to bring out the details; and a very few fine nights only allowing the use of the latter. Mr Banks found a Kitchener’s Pancratic Tube, drawn out to 160, of much easier and sharper definition when observing the “half tint markings” than a Huygenian 180, with which the bright points were generally best seen.

In conclusion, we trust that this effort to excite in others the interest we ourselves have felt will be kindly received by other amateurs, and tend to  draw their attention to the planet during the next opposition in January 1867, when, as far at least as increased diameter is concerned, the opportunity for observation will be somewhat more favourable than during that now passed.

W L Banks, Ealing

N E Green St John’s Wood

February 14^th 1865

 

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Cooke Telescope Tales - comet Borelly 1903 photographed with a Cooke telescope by Isaac Roberts

 Discovered on the 21^st July 1903 by M Borelly at the Marseilles Observatory the comet would become an easy naked eye object at magnitude 2.5 it was observed until August 24^th when it became to close to the Sun to be seen. 

Isaac Roberts at Crowborough, photographed the comet  the top and bottom photographs of the comet were taken using his 5 inch Cooke telescope while the middle one was taken with his 20 inch reflector.

During the time the comet was in the sky the weather was poor and when the weather was clear the Moon was near full making photography difficult. That sounds a bit like the weather today!

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A little ramble the Crux The Southern Cross

 Crux the Southern Cross is the smallest of the 88 constellations in the sky. It was unknown to the ancient astronomers as Crux its four brightest stars were noted by Ptolemy as being part of Centaurus.

There are reports that it was known to Pliny as Thronos Caesaris in honour of the emperor Augustus. It may have been named by someone wishing to court favour from the emperor.

The Arab astronomer Al Biruni wrote that the stars could be seen from Multan in India, one star was recorded as being named Sula, The Beam of Crucifixion. This is a reference to the cross.

It’s invention as a constellation is often attributed to Augustin Royer in 1679, however the constellation had been referred to for about two hundred years before Royer, meaning that his claim to inventing the constellation is not accurate.

As it became a separate constellation during the Middle Ages it comes under the classification of a modern constellation.

There appears to be some suggestions that it was observed by Amerigo Vespucci (1454 – 1512) during his voyage of 1501-1502, however the first time that Crux appears separately on a star chart was one made by  the Dutch map maker Petrus Plancius (1552 -1622) and the English maker of star globes Emery Molyneux (d1594) on a star globe of 1592.

Not surprisingly there are four stars that form the shape of the southern cross when Johann Bayer produced his Uranometria star atlas in 1603, he labelled these four stars as epsilon, zeta, nu and Xi Centaurus, today we know these four stars as alpha, beta, gamma and delta Crux.

In 1624 Jakob Bartsch (c1600-1633) showed the constellation separately from Centaurus. Bartsch married Johannes Kepler’s daughter Susanna in 1630 and helped Kepler with some of his calculations.

The names of the stars in Crux are either modern, or they don’t have any names.

Alpha or Acrux which is a 19th century name and has no ancient meaning. It has a magnitude of 0.8, it is B class star with a surface temperature of 22,500’C compared to the 5,800’C for the Sun. It lies at a distance of 320 light years.

Beta is a star of magnitude 1.2 lying 280 light years away it’s another B class giant star also with a temperature of 25,000’ C

Gamma is 87 light years away and has a magnitude of 1.6 it’s a red M giant class star with a temperature of 3,300, C. It is the nearest red giant to the Sun.

Delta at magnitude 2.8 is the faintest of the four stars that make the Southern Cross. It lies 345 light years away; it is a B class star with a temperature of 22,000’C

The Kappa Crucis Cluster or NGC 4755, also known as the Jewel Box (or Herschel’s Jewel Box), is an open star cluster in Crux. It is one of the youngest clusters ever discovered, with an estimated age of only 14 million years. Kappa is one of the brightest members of the cluster.

The 19th century English astronomer Sir John Herschel described the cluster as “a casket of variously coloured precious stones,” which is how the cluster appears in a telescope and how it subsequently got the name the Jewel Box.

To the naked eye, the cluster appears like a star near beta, the brightest stars in the Jewel Box Cluster are super giants. The three brightest stars got the nickname “traffic lights” because of their different colours.

The cluster has a visual magnitude of 4.2 and contains about one hundred 100 stars. It is approximately 6,440 light years distant from the solar system.

The cluster can only be observed from the southern hemisphere. It was discovered by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille on his trip to South Africa in 1751-52.

The Coalsack Nebula is located about 600 light-years away. This huge, dusky object 35 light years across was seen around 1500 by Ferdinand Magellan on his trip around the world. It was called at that time Macula Magellan or Magellan’s Spot.

The Coalsack like other dark nebulae, it is an interstellar cloud of dust so thick that it prevents most of the background starlight from reaching observers.

It forms a conspicuous silhouette against the bright, starry band of the Milky Way and for this reason the nebula has been known to people in the Southern Hemisphere for as long as our species has existed.

The Southern Cross appears on the national flags of Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Plans to observe the Transit of Venus from Russia

 Nature June 6^th 1872

Transit of Venus

In a letter from General Otto Struve, director of the Palkowa Observatory and Astronomer Royal of Russia, to Prof. Newcomb, of the Washington Observatory, detailing the Russian preparations  for observing the forthcoming Transit of Venus, and printed in HARPERS’S WEEKLY, he remarks that the inquiries into the meteorological conditions of the stations selected have given on the whole, very satisfactory results, particularly for the station on the coast of the Pacific  Ocean and in Eastern Siberia (84 pr cent of clear sky for December).

In two only of the stations chosen, Tashkent and Astrabad, these conditions are not sufficiently satisfactory. For this reason the observers designed for Tashkent will probably go to a place about 100  miles west of that town; and instead of Astrbad it is proposed to take either the island of Aschuradeh , in the Caspian Sea, or, of possible to cross the Elburz Mountains and establish observers at Schahrech, In Persia 9with nearly absolute certainty of clear sky).

The total number of Russian stations will be twenty-four each of them provided with only one instrument for the transit observation. These instruments are – three 4 inch heliometers, three photo heliographs, four 6inch equatorial and four 4 inch equatorials, provided with filar micrometres and spectroscopic apparatus and ten 4 inch telescopes, designed merely for contact observations.  Each station will also be furnished with clocks, chronometers, and the instruments necessary for exact determination of time. The principal instruments have already been ordered.

Most of them will be ready for use in the curse of the present or beginning of next year. For these instruments the observers are also in a great part selected. They will all visit Palkowa for a certain time in 1873 to exercise themselves in the observations.

The geographic positions of the stations will be determined by the transit observers; but all stations on which the transit has been successfully observed will be carefully determined afterwards by special expeditions of the general staff or the navy. For this purpose, a principal line of telegraphic longitudes, will probably be laid next year through all Siberia to Nicolajevsk, with which line the other stations of that part of Russia can easily be joined, either by telegraphic or chronometric operations.

With regards to photographic observations, Prof Struve states that the two observers, one at Vilna and Dr Vogel at Bothkamp, in Holstein, have been perfectly successful in taking instantaneous observations with dry plates.

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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 approaching Transit of Venus

 Nature May 30^th 1872

In Nature journal of the 4^th January 1872 the late Mr J Carpenter gives an interesting sketch of the arrangements in progress for observing the forthcoming Transit if Venus.

He states that the French and German astronomers have decided on establishing a station of observation at Muscat or at some place between that nasty little port and Tehran.

Now as a point along this line is considered so favourable by Continental astronomers, will allow me through your pages to call Mr Airy’s attention to the advantages of Jask (southern port in modern Iran) in this respect. Cape Jask on the Merkran Coast, is situated roughly in lat 25.5 N and long 57.5 E.

We have here a large and intelligent English telegraph staff and work a double line of telegraphs to Europe. We have three large stone-built bungalows with strong, flat, cement covered roofs, which are approached by spacious staircases. The large bungalow, forming the clerks’ quarters, is about 250 feet long and 20 feet high, and 40 feet broad. It is divided in the centre by a sort of tower, in which are situated the stairs leading to the roof. The latter would be a most convenient pace for erecting the astronomical instruments &c.

There is no telegraphic communication with Muscat, and it is about two days sail, with a fair wind, from Jask, which us the nearest telegraph station.

Should the Astronomer Royal decide on sending out a couple of observers here, I promise them a hospitable reception and every assistance. The fortnightly mail steamers between Bombay and Bussorah (modern day Basra), pass within 15 miles or 20 miles of this place, and could easily be induced by Government to call and land the party.

Mr Latimer Clark, who visited this station towards the end of 1869, will I daresay, if called upon, be able to give some further particulars for the accuracy of my statement.

J J Fahie

Persian Gulf Telegraph Dept, Jask Station

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