St James’s Budget Newspaper Saturday October 27th 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.
www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk
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