This was seen in the Leeds Mercury Thursday 13th March 1879. A Splendid Telescope for Sale by Cooke of York, object glass 4.5 inches diameter; equatorial bearings, micrometer &c, in large circular house with moveable top. Apply Anthony Robinson 27 Upperhead- row, Leeds
John Dansken who was born in Glasgow in 1836 was by profession a surveyor and an enthusiastic amateur astronomer who built an observatory at his home in Patrickhill, Glasgow which included a 5 inch telescope by Thomas Cooke of York, there was also a larger 13 inch reflector made by D Hunter of Lanark.
He also had one of the finest astronomical libraries in the West of Scotland.
John Dansken died in 1905.
At the 1880 Annual meeting of the Paisley Philosophical Institution, it was proposed that the society should purchase an astronomical telescope. Mr Thomas Coats of Ferguslie, then a member of the council with advice from Professor Grant at Glasgow University a 5 inch telescope by Cooke of York was obtained.
Mr Coats provided an observatory with a sum of £2,000. This Coats Observatory would become the oldest public observatory in Scotland. On the 10th September 1883 the observatory was opened to members of the philosophical society and was then opened to the public from Monday 1st October 1883.
Mr Donald McLean one of Professor Grant’s assistants was appointed first curator. Between 1892-1898 additional equipment including a 10 inch telescope by Grubb of Dublin would be added.
The Cooke telescope would be used throughout the 19th and 20th century in order to promote astronomy. In 1963 the running of the observatory passed from the Paisley Philosophical Society to that of the town council. This placed the observatory under the museum and galleries committee.
At present the Coats observatory is closed and us due to reopen in 2023.
Roughly half way between the stars beta cancer magnitude 3.5 and delta hydra magnitude 4.2 is an unmarked star on star atlas 2000. Another one that was not listed by Flamsteed.
This star turns out to be HD 71115 a mag 5.1 star which is listed in sky catalogue 2000. Its a double star. Depending which double star catalogue you look at the two components stars are of
mags 5.1 and 9.2 in catalogue 2000
mags5.2 and 10.0 in Washington Double Star Catalogue
mags 5.5 and 9.5 in Burnhams
Its amazing just how many bright easy to see naked eye stars just have not been noted by Flamsteed.
Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and the Messier Marathon.
.jpg)
The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and the show can be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.
I have come across a Flamsteed numbered star problem in Canis Minor. Next to the star Fl14 CMi which is a magnitude 5.3 K0 III type star, is a sgtar which is not labelled on star atlas 2000, it is in fact HD 66141 or G CMi which is a magnitude 4.4 K2 III star, this is a magnitude brighter yet not catalogued by Flamsteed.
On Atlas 2000 there is no reference number to this star so I was surprised when I came across the fact that the star was also designated as G CMi.
This is the Gould System a system similar to the Flamsteed system that was introduced by Benjamin Gould when he published his Uranometria Argentina in 1879. On the Gould system this star would be catalogued as 50 G Canis Minoris.
If this is not confusing enough this star some how managed to get the designation of Fl13 Puppis. It then subsequently got a free transfer to Canis Minor.
It is all very confusing!!
Here we go again, yet another Flamsteed numbered star that is fainter than stars nearby which do not have Flamsteed numbers.
In this case 33 Leo which has a magnitude of 7.8 which is way below naked eye brightness and a small telescope of Flamsteeds’ time might struggle to see it clearly, yet two stars nearby HD 87500 mag 6.4 and HD 87776 mag 7.2 which are both brighter are both brighter were either missed of ignored by him.
