There are 88 constellations in the night sky and now experts from the World Health Organisation are considering using the names of these constellations to denote possible new future strains of the covid virus.
At present the Greek alphabet is used to denote the covid variations, there are only 24 letters in the Greek alphabet compared to 26 in the English alphabet.
In the future, rather than the alpha or beta variants there might be the Orion, Taurus or Camelopardalis variants!!
Pall Mall Gazette Friday 2nd January 1885
Astronomical Observatory with Telescope and Appointments Complete
To be SOLD, a bargain, on account of the owner’s eyesight, an excellent equatorial-mounted TELESCOPE by Cooke, 4.5 inch diam; Dawes solar and numerous other eyepieces, micrometer, induction coil and battery, automatic and star spectroscope, spark condenser, clock by Cooke, barometer 7-10 diam, observing chair, complete sets of the memoirs and monthly notices of the RAS Astronomical Register and Observatory, with indexes, and a number of other astronomical works, all in the best possible condition. The above presents a very rare opportunity to astronomical students.
Address “Telescope”, care of Lee and Nightingale, Advertising Agents, Liverpool
Liverpool Daily Post Thursday 5th August 1875
Second hand astronomical telescope for sale by the late Mr Cooke of York.
G S Wood (late Abraham &Co ) Opticians 20 Lord Street, Liverpool.
August 3rd 1933 Will Hay discovers White Spot on Saturn
Although best known as a comedy actor of British films in the 1930s Will Hay was also a very competent amateur astronomer who used a Thomas Cooke of York 6 in telescope from his home in London.
On August 3rd 1933 he discovered a white spot on the planet Saturn, this was the first white spot seen on the ringed planet since 1903 the next would not be until 1960. The white spots on Saturn are storms similar to the red spot on Jupiter.
The difference being that the red spot on Jupiter has been since constantly for several hundred years, the white spots on Saturn only appear occasionally
The Silver Pit Crater was formed around 35 million years ago scientists announced in August 2002. It was smaller than the one that killed the dinosaurs but it is very important to us because it is not only the first impact crater identified in or near Britain, but it’s a Yorkshire meteorite crater!
The meteorite would have been travelling at about 25 miles per second when it struck the Earth, and was about 120 metres across and weighed around 2 million tons, it crashed into what is now the North Sea about 60 miles off the Yorkshire coast, this I think is close enough to be classified as Yorkshire!
This impact would have devastated the area around what is now Britain, northern Europe and Scandinavia. The crater which is called the Silver Pit Crater is about 1.5 miles wide. At the time that the meteorite struck this area was still under about 150 metres of water, the crater is now located about 0.5 miles under the sea bed covered by shale and sand. The name Silver pit comes from a long valley called the Silver Pit Valley which is in the bed of the North Sea.
It was discovered in 2002 by a company looking for new oil and gas fields. While looking for these resources the oil and gas companies produce three-dimensional maps which tell them whether or not it is worth drilling in the area. It was during the course of this routine exploration that the data collected indicated that there was a crater below the sea bed in the North Sea. The 3D map shows a spectacular set or rings sweeping out around the crater.
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| Silver Pit Crater |
There are suggestions that the ring like structures of the crater that have been discovered are rare on craters discovered on Earth, however they do appear to be similar to those that are seen on Europa and Calisto two of the large icy moons that orbit Jupiter. These are moons that scientists speculate could be places where life might exist in our solar system. Europa and Calisto are two of the four large moons that were discovered by Galileo back in 1609 when he first used his telescope to look at the night sky. The other two moons he discovered are Io and Ganymede.
It all depends on what is under the icy surface of these moons, and we can’t be certain yet, however there could be could be some kind of layered briny ocean, scientists believe that under the Silver Pit crater, there are layers of shale. It could possibly be that these layers are causing these ring features both on Jupiter’s moons and around the Silver Pit crater. The theory being put forward is that is that it is this layering effect below the surface that causes these rings to appear. I wonder if it is possible that by studying this 35 million year old Yorkshire crater scientists can try to better understand what is going on under two of the large moons of Jupiter which are over 480 million miles away!
It has been thought necessary by honourable number 2 son to change my name from the astrognome to the rambling astronomer.
Apparently because I spend endless time just rambling. Therefore from now on all my blogs will be issued under the rambling astronomer.
I hope that makes sense !!
The Coleman Cooke becomes the Rev TER Phillips Cooke then the Port Elizabeth telescope
William Coleman 1824-1911 was the owner of Solton Manor near Dover, he had a strong interest in astronomy. He erected at his residence The Shruberry, Buckland near Dover an observatory housing an 8 inch Thomas Cooke and Sons of York telescope which was made around 1891. His main interest was in double stars.
He had work published in the Royal Astronomical Society Memoirs vol Iiii containing the measurement of his double stars made in the years between 1893-1896 using the 8 inch telescope. The list included 161 double stars. Another list published I the Memoirs vol Iiv for the years 1897-1899 looked at 131 double stars. Again using the 8 inch telescope.
William Coleman also had a smaller 4 inch Cooke and Sons telescope plus other accessories which were sold by auction after his death.
Following William Coleman’s death in 1911 his estate which was worth over £40,000 left numerous bequests including that the Thomas Cooke and Sons 8 inch telescope and observatory were offered to the Royal Astronomical Society who then leased them to the Rev T.E.R .Phillips who then re erected them at Ashtead in Surry. The telescope and original observatory would be moved again in 1916 when Phillips became rector of Headley also in Surrey. Phillip’s work on the planets and in particular Jupiter and Mars using the 8 inch Cooke was particularly important.
The Rev TER Philips died in 1942 but the story of the Coleman/Philips telescope continued. In 1947 a group of people the Port Elizabeth Astronomical Society in South Africa wanted to establish an observatory there. By 1948 the money needed had been raised and the telescope went to Port Elizabeth. Originally housed in a run off shed by 1953 it was housed in an observatory and at the time was the largest telescope in South Africa used for public viewing nights.
The telescope was used through until the 21st century when a combination of lack of ageing membership and light pollution plus the age of the telescope meant that it was used less and less. With the possibility of it being scrapped. The the Antique Telescope Society came to the rescue and through their help Daniel Mobati of Oakland California in 2016 purchased the 8 inch Cooke telescope with the plane to have the telescope fully restored and placed in an observatory in the San Francisco Bay area. As of 2021 I do not know if the project has yet been completed.
