On July 12th 1874 Robert Newall and Norman Lockyer observed comet Coggia using the Thomas Cooke & Sons 25 inch telescope. The observations were made at Newall’s observatory at Gateshead. The 25 inch was at the time the largest telescope in the world.
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On November 6th 1872, D. Winstanley whilst looking over the sea a few minutes before 10.00 o’clock saw a meteor of large size. It was accompanied by a short scintillating train and moved slowly quite parallel with the horizon directly north. Its elevation was about 15 degrees and its rate of motion was about 1.5 degrees per second. The night was dark and somewhat cloudy, and the line described by the meteor was seemingly quite straight.
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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.
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.
Comet Klinkerfues 1854 was seen from the Whitehaven Observatory on the night of October 7th 1854. The comet had been discovered by the German astronomer Ernest Klinkerfues on the night of September 12th 1854 at the Berlin observatory. From Whitehaven it was described as looking like a round nebulous body without any appearance of a tail. The comet was seen in Ursa Major the Great Bear.
There were very few observations of the comet and it is
therefore classed as a near parabolic comet with no certainty when it will come
close to the Sun next.
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Abridged from the Times January 9th 1875
The further news which we have received from 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 contact 5s, 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.
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During April and May 1841 a course of 6 popular lectures on astronomy were give at the mechanics Institute at Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire by Dr Henderson of the Liverpool Observatory. Dr Henderson was the author of various works on astronomy, geography and navigation.
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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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Musca (Latin for "the fly") is a small
constellation in the deep southern sky. The constellation can be located just
below the Southern Cross. It cannot be seen from Britain.
It was one of 12
constellations created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter
Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, and it first appeared on a celestial
globe 35 cm (14 in) in diameter published in 1597 (or 1598) in Amsterdam by
Plancius and Jodocus Hondius.
The first depiction
of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer's Uranometria of
1603. It was also known as Apis (Latin for "the bee") for 200 years.
Lacaille in 1776 renamed it to Musca Australis, the Southern
Fly, to its then counterpart the now discarded constellation of Musca
Borealis. The Australis part has now been discarded.
Alpha has a brightness of magnitude of 2.7 and is a class B2 star lying 315 light years away.
Beta lies 340 light years away and has a magnitude of 3.0
its a B2 class star.
Gamma is a B5 class star with a brightness of magnitude 3.9
lying at a distance of 325 light years.
Delta has a brightness of magnitude 3.7 and is a K2 class
giant star at a distance of 91 light years.
There is one deep sky object of interest this is NGC 5189 or
the Spiral Planetary Nebula. It was discovered by James Dunlop on July 1st
1826 from Paramatta in Australia.
NGC 5189 is 1,780 light years from earth and with a magnitude of 8.2 it will
need a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope to see it.
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In the Carter Observatory in Wellington New Zealand is a 9.75 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope that has a wonderful history.
It was originally made for Edward Crossley of Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1867 as a 9.3 inch telescope, it was used extensively by Crossley and his assistant Joseph Gledhill, with important observations of Mars and Jupiter being made. The 9.3 inch was also used in double star measurements and lead to be of the most important early catalogues on double stars by Crossley, Gledhill and James Wilson of Rugby.
In 1896 a new photo visual lens was place in the telescope tube, it was slightly small at 9 inches. On the death of Crossley in 1905 and the retirement of Gledhill the telescope was sold to the Rev David Kennedy on the north island of New Zealand at Meeanee, where an observatory was opened in 1907.
By 1924 the telescope had been sold again to the Wellington City Council and was installed in a tin shed rather than a proper observatory due to a lack of money.
However a local farmer and business man Charles Rooking Carter left in his will in 1896 a sum of £2240 to build an observatory. The observatory was built in Wellington and opened in December 1941, however due to the war very little happened until 1945.
Since then the Cooke telescope has been extensively used and was retired from research work in 1971. In 1975 it was discovered that the chemicals inside the lens were unstable and over time would damage the lens. In 2001 a new lens this time 9.75 inches was installed.
Today the telescope is still used
for public open evenings and is a testament to the telescopes built by Thomas
Cooke was made in 1867 and is still working today.
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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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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.
Wallington & Carshalton Herald Saturday 9th July 1887
WANTON MISCHIEF ! A DISGRACE TO WALLINGTON.
To the Editor of The Herald
Sometime last 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 near 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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In July 1867 the polymath Thomas Bazeley purchased a 6 inch telescope from Thomas Cooke & Sons, the telescope cost £365 (today this would be over £45,000) . In 1877 Bazeley donated the telescope to Joseph Baxendell.
Baxendell was a prolific variable star observer and in fact discovered around 20 new variable stars, including the nova T Corona Borealis in 1866, this would later become known as the Blaze Star because it went novae again in 1846.
This 6 inch Cooke would allow him to continue his variable
star work. Bazley also supplied the timber structure for the telescope.
Baxendell renamed his house at 14, Liverpool Road, Birkdale, The Observatory.
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Kilpatrick & Co, 2 Northampton Square, London 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.
The following instruments were ordered.
20.01.1866 3.5 inch Telescope mounted on a tall
tripod. with zonal and vertical motions
11.04.1867 Solar eyepiece, sliding wedge of dark glass
21.09.1867 4 inch Telescope 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.
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On 16.11.1866, W U Jones, The Warren, Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire ordered a first rate transit instrument . Later in 1867 he ordered equipment for his observatory including 4 friction wheels and tramway, 10 feet 4.5 inches inside diameter, wheels not more than 8 inches diameter.
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If you think that finding a Unicorn on the Earth wait until you look for one in the night sky.
A faint but fascinating constellation between Orion and
Canis Minor. Jakob Bartsch, a German
mathematician and son in law of Johannes Kepler brought it into general use on
his star chart of 1624, although there are references to such a constellation
in this position in earlier works by astronomers. there are some reports that
in 1564 it was regarded as “The other horse south of the Twins and the Crab”.
There are even earlier references to the constellation being represented on
Persian star globes.
Its location in the Milky Way ensures that it is well
stocked with nebulae and clusters.
The three stars Betelgeuse in Orion, Procyon in Canis Minor
and Sirius in Canis Major form what astronomers call the Winter Triangle. The
Unicorn is found within this triangle.
Alpha has a magnitude of only 3.9 and lies 148 light years away. It is a G class giant star.
The brightest star is beta at magnitude 3.7, however beta is
a system of three stars and under the very best of conditions you might be able
to make them out. A pair of binoculars will easily show the three stars. Beta
lies at a distance of about 700 light years.
With the Milky Way flowing through Monoceros the area is
very rich in faint stars also there are various clusters of stars.
M 50 is an obscure open cluster in an equally obscure constellation
If your sky is very clear and dark you might just glimpse it. Its 3,000 light
years away. There are over 500 stars.
NGC 2232 an open cluster centred around the star 10
Monoceros. Its brightness is magnitude 4.0 and lies at a distance of 1,600
light years.
NGC 2237 the Rosette Nebula magnitude 9.0 and lies at a
distance of 5,000 light years. It is a very complicated region which contains
NGC 2238, 2239,2244 and 2246. It is an area often photographed by astronomers.
The whole complex of nebula covers an area of 130 light years.
NGC 2261 Hubble’s Variable Nebula which is illuminated by
the variable star R Monocertis which varies between 10 to 12. It is so named
because it was the first object photographed by Edwin Hubble when the Palomar
200 inch telescope was used for the first time. It is mag 9.0 and lies at a distance of
2,500 light years.
NGC 2264 The Christmas tree or Cone nebula Magnitude 4.0 and
2,600 light years away inside the nebula is a the bright luminous star S
Monocerotis or 15 Monocerostis which varies very slightly S has a magnitude of
4.6
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I have come across another astronomer who purchased a small Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope.
In this case it is J. Hullett of Clarence Lodge, Purbrook,
Cosham, Hampshire who in 1868 purchased
a 2.75 inch refractor, which I would assume would have been mounted on a
small tripod.
Nature March 16th 1876
Miss Sheepshanks has presented to the Royal Astronomical
Society 200 volumes of works on astronomy, some of them very rare; Lord Lindsay
has presented a large and valuable collection of the late Mr Carrington’s MSS
on the subject of sun spots.
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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.
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.
The University of Toronto’s David Dunlap observatory at Richmond Hill near Toronto, Canada today houses a 74 inch Grubb Parsons reflector that was installed in 1935. However there was a much older observatory in Toronto.
This was the Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory
at the University of Toronto which
housed a 6 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope that was installed in
1880. The Cooke was used in particular for the study of sun spots in
conjunction with magnetic measurements made at the observatory. I believe that
the Cooke may have been used until around 1910.
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The “dog days of summer” is a phrase used to describe the hot and humid days of summer. It can be traced back thousands of years. It refers to the dates from July 3 through August 11, which is 20 days prior and 20 days after the star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction [sharing the same spot in our sky] with the sun. Sirius was known as the “Dog Star,” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).
Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. The name Sirius
comes from an ancient Greek word for “scorching” or “glowing.”
Since Sirius is in conjunction with the sun on July 23, the
dog days of summer center around then. The dog days of summer fall between July
3 to August 11, and that’s when we have many of our warmest days in the
Northern Hemisphere.
Now we often have very hot days before or after July 3 to
August 11 however the legend of the dog days has survived.
Nature March 16th 1876
Comet 1840
In Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 2079, Dr Kowalczyk, of
Warsaw, publishes I his investigation of a definitive orbit for the comet
discovered at Berlin by prof Galle, the present Director pf the observatory at
Breslau, on the 25th January 1840.
This comet which was last observed at Kremsmunster on the 1st
April, had already been made the subject of extensive calculation b y
Professors Plantamour and Loomis. The former in 1843, discussing his own series
of careful observations taken at Geneva, found (Astron Nach, No. 476) that a
parabolic orbit represented the comet’s course within the probable limits of
error of observation; on including the series taken at Berlin he found the most
probable orbit to be an ellipse, but of great eccentricity to which little weight was considered to attach.
Loomis on his side, taking into account the effect of
planetary perturbation during the
interval of the comet’ visibility, also found an ellipse, but with a mote
moderate eccentricity, the period of revolution being about 2,400 years; the
sum of the squares of the errors of the
ellipse is diminished to one third the amount with the best determinable
parabola.
Loomis’s investigation will be found in the Transactions of
the American Academy vol viii; his orbits are not in the included in the
extensive collection in Dr Carl’s “Repertorium der Cometen-Astronomie”, a work
which notwithstanding, its great utility
to the student of this branch of science, is yet not complete or free
from numerical errors.
Kowalczyk starts with the parabolic elements obtained by Plantamour in 1843, comparing them with the whole course of observations. After introducing the corrections for aberrations and parallax , and the earth’s position from Leverrier’s tables, instead of those from the tables of Carlini used by previous computers and by the usual method of equations of conditions for ten normal places, he finally arrives at an elliptical orbit, very closely agreeing with observations, and showing a period of revolution of 3,789
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years.
On July 6, Earth will be at aphelion, the furthest point from the Sun it can reach on its yearly orbit. At aphelion, Earth will be 94,502,963 million miles (152, 087,778 million km) from the Sun. Earth was at perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, during January, when it was only 91,403 ,640 million miles (147,099,900 million km) away.
The seasons are caused not by how close Earth is to the Sun, but by which hemisphere is tilted towards it. In July the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, so we have summer, while in January, when Earth is closest to the Sun, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from it and we have winter.
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A report from 1889 says that Baron Albert von Rothschild’s observatory within the precincts of his palace is a bijou. A splendid equatorial by Thomas Cooke & Sons with a 9 inch aperture, to which the Baron has fitted notions of his own. Observations of double stars are made by him, and astronomers may in a year or two receive published results. Dr Palisa is the Baron’s court astronomer.
