Edinburgh City Observatory

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The city observatory as seen from Nelson's Monument . In the middle is the Playfair observatory building, on the left the older Short observatory

The Edinburgh City Observatory engl. City Observatory is an observatory in Edinburgh , Scotland.

history

The protruding main building was designed by William Henry Playfair in 1818 and commissioned by the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution .

The operation of the observatory was later taken over by the state, it was used by the University of Edinburgh . Thomas James Henderson worked here as astronomer Royal for Scotland between 1834 and 1844 .

In 1890 the observatory was replaced by the larger Royal Observatory in the south of the city, where there was less light pollution . Today it is operated by the local astro club and is open to the public on Fridays.

Short observatory

In one corner of the site is the somewhat older observatory of Thomas Short , an optician from Leith . He was the brother of the famous Edinburgh telescope maker and Royal Fellow James Short and brought his 12-foot reflector telescope into the basic equipment.
The classical building in the shape of a fortress tower was built in 1776 by James Craig in the style of Robert Adam . Short financed the construction from a fund of the mathematician and geodesist Colin Maclaurin , who had worked at the University of Edinburgh from 1726–46.

After Short's death in 1788, the observatory was continued by his family and reverted to the city in 1805; later it was used briefly as a public observatory and museum.

credentials

  1. The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh - The City Observatory
  2. The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh - Journal 38

Coordinates: 55 ° 57 ′ 18 ″  N , 3 ° 11 ′ 1 ″  W.