Markree Observatory
| Markree Observatory | |
|---|---|
 William Doberck with the refractor at the Markree Observatory |
|
| founding | 1830 |
| IAU code | 977 |
| Type | Observatory |
| Coordinates | 54 ° 10 '27 .4 " N , 8 ° 27' 41.3" W |
| place | County Sligo |
| management | Off-duty |
The Markree Observatory (German Markree Observatorium ) was an astronomical observatory in County Sligo , Ireland . The asteroid 9 Metis was discovered in 1848 by Cooper's assistant Andrew Graham with a comet finder telescope from this observatory. The observatory also housed the largest refractor of the early 1830s - a Cauchoix lens with an aperture of over 13 inches. The largest in the world at the time. The observatory also housed a number of instruments and operated to varying degrees over the course of the 19th century.
The observatory is known for its discovery of the asteroid 9 Metis in 1848, as well as for a 60,000 article star catalog from the 1850s. In the late 1800s, after a brief hiatus, it returned to service and received recognition for its meteorological observations and research on binary stars .
history
In 1830 Colonel Edward Joshua Cooper MP (1798–1863) founded the Markree Observatory on the grounds of Markree Castle , near Collooney , County Sligo . He was the eldest son of Edward Synge Couper MP and Ann, the daughter of Henry Vansittard, the governor of Bengal.
In 1831 Cooper purchased a 13.3-inch lens from Robert A. Cauchoix of Paris for which he paid £ 1,200. In 1834 he mounted the lens on an equatorial bracket supplied by Thomas Grubb of Dublin . For a number of years, Cooper's large refractor was the largest in the world. With this telescope he observed Halley's Comet in 1835 and observed the solar eclipse of May 15, 1836.
Later, a 1.5 m transit and 0.9 m meridian circle were added, fitted with an interchangeable 17.75 cm glass, which was the largest at the time in 1839. A 3-inch comet finder was added in 1842.
The observatory also had a thermometer hut , which was developed by Thomas Stevenson in the 1860s .
"The observatory of Mr. Cooper, of Markree Castle, - undoubtedly the most richly furnished private observatory known, - is worked with great activity by Mr. Cooper himself and by his veryable assistant, Mr. Andrew Graham."
"Mr. Cooper's observatory at Markree Castle - undoubtedly the best-equipped private observatory - is served with great activity by Mr. Cooper himself and his assistant, Mr. Andrew Graham ."
In 1848 Cooper's assistant Andrew Graham discovered the asteroid 9 Metis with a wide-field comet finder telescope manufactured by Ertel. Graham resigned from Markree in 1860, but continued his research at the Cambridge Observatory until his retirement in 1905. EJ Cooper died in 1863, but the observatory was in use until the death of Edward Henry Cooper MP in 1902.
The 13+ inch Cauchoix
The Cauchoix telescope was installed in a circular wall but did not have a dome or roof over it. The case was 16 feet in diameter.
The telescope mount was made by Grubb of Dublin (Grubb made telescopes for a century and a half, later known as Grubb-Parsons ).
The telescope was a dual lens with an aperture of 13.3 inches and a focal length of 25 feet. The Grubb mount had a clockwork drive and weighed nearly 2.4 tons (2.6 tons ) that rested on a limestone pillar.
The lens was ground by Cauchoix from Paris using glass blanks from Guinand . The 13.3 inch lens was completed in 1831.
Guinand was a Swiss who made a breakthrough in making better and bigger glass in the late 18th century. During this time he taught the young Fraunhofer in Utzschinder's glassworks and eventually founded his own optical glass factory. Guinand supplied glass for the telescopes of the Paris Observatory and also for Cauchoix.
Instruments
Examples:
- 1831 Troughton transit with a 5-inch Tulley lens.
- 1839 Ertel 3-foot meridian circle with a 7-inch opening.
- 1842 Ertel 3 inch aperture comet finder.
- 3-foot Dollond refractor (length in this case, not aperture),
- 13 inch Cauchoix lens on Grubb mount.
literature
- W. Doberck: Markree Observatory . In: The Observatory . tape 7 , October 1, 1884, p. 283–288 , bibcode : 1884Obs ..... 7..283D (English).
- W. Doberck: Markree Observatory (continued) . In: The Observatory . tape 7 , November 1, 1884, p. 329–332 , bibcode : 1884Obs ..... 7..329D (English).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b History of the Cauchoix objective. Retrieved June 2, 2020 .
- ^ Report of the Council to the Thirty-first Annual General Meeting . In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . tape 11 , no. 4 , February 15, 1851, p. 67–110 , doi : 10.1093 / mnras / 11.4.67a (the quote is on page 104).
- ^ Stefan Hughes: Catchers of the Light: The Forgotten Lives of the Men and Women Who First Photographed the Heavens . ArtDeCiel Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-62050-961-6 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).