Dunsink Observatory

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The Dunsink Observatory ( Irish Réadlann Dhún Sinche , "Observatory of Dunsink") is an observatory in the townland of Dunsink ( Dún Sinche ) 8 km northwest of the center of Dublin (suburb Castleknock ), which was opened in 1785. It is the oldest scientific institution in Ireland.

Observatory, on the left the South Dome
12 inch Grubb telescope in the South Dome

The observatory was built from 1783 and was under the direction of the Royal Astronomer of Ireland from 1792. It was also affiliated with Trinity College (Dublin) - the Royal Astronomer was an honorary title of Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College until 1922. In the South Dome, outside the main building, is a 30 cm refractor made by Grubb in Dublin. It is also called the South Telescope because Sir James South donated the achromatic lens in 1862. The model for the equatorial mount was that of the observatory in Dorpat ( Josef Fraunhofer , 1824). Previously, South had the lens in his own observatory in Kensington, but out of anger over what he thought had been a failure, he tore it off and donated the lens to Trinity College. Today it is mainly used for visitors. Following the example of Dunsink, the Grubb company (later Grubb, Parsons) built a number of other telescopes.

The observatory's most famous astronomer was William Rowan Hamilton . Hamilton discovered the quaternions on foot from Dublin to Dunsink in 1843, as evidenced by a plaque on the Broom Bridge along the way. Other astronomers were Henry Ussher (1740-1790, first Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College), Hermann Brück , John Brinkley (Bishop of Cloyne, Royal Astronomer from 1790 to 1827).

Since 1947 it has been affiliated with the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies School of Cosmic Physics .

From 1880, when the Statutes (Definition of Time) Act introduced a uniform time for the whole island, the official time for Ireland was recorded at the Dunsink Observatory. The Dublin Mean Time (also Dunsink Time ) went to the Greenwich Mean Time about 25 minutes and 21 seconds behind. As this proved impractical, Greenwich Mean Time was introduced in Ireland in 1916.

literature

  • Hermann and Mary Brück: The solar installation of Dunsick Observatory, Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 1, 1955, pp. 430–437

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ South was very contentious and was at odds with many members of the Royal Society
  2. ↑ Cape Town, Santiago de Chile, Radcliffe Observatory Oxford (later in Mill Hill), Greenwich (from 1958 Herstmonceaux), Johannesburg
  3. ^ Statutes (Definition of Time) Act, 1880 ; Malone, David. Dunsink and Timekeeping

Coordinates: 53 ° 23 '14.4 "  N , 6 ° 20' 19.2"  W.