reflector; refr., refractor; s.g., silvered glass; vis., visual; univ., university. Where the names of two makers are given, the first is responsible for the optical, the second for the mechanical part of the instrument.)
Great Britain and Ireland
A. Public Observatories.
Greenwich, royal obs., lat. +51° 28′ 38·4″. Founded in 1675 for the promotion of astronomy and navigation. The obs. have therefore from the first been principally intended to determine the positions of standard stars, the sun and, planets, and above all to follow the motion of the moon with as little interruption as possible, both on and outside the meridian. Since 1873 spectroscopic obs. and a daily phot. record of sun-spots have been taken. The eighth satellite of Jupiter was discovered photographically in 1908. The obs. is under the direction of the astronomer-royal; and from the time of its first astronomer, Flamsteed, the institution has always maintained its place in the foremost rank of obs. Thus the obs. of Bradley (ob. 1762) form the foundation of modern stellar astronomy; but it was especially during the directorship of Airy (1835–1881) that the obs. rose to its present high state of efficiency. There are now two chief assistants, six assistants, and a staff of computers employed. The principal instruments now in use are: a meridian circle by Simms (and Ransomes and May as engineers), erected in 1850, having a circle of 6-ft. diameter and a telescope of 8-in. ap., Lassell’s 2-ft. refl., erected 1884; 13-in. phot. refr. with 10-in. vis. o.g. by Grubb; 28-in. refr. by Grubb; 26-in. phot. refr. by Grubb, with the old 12·8-in. refr. as guiding telescope; 9-in. phot. refr. by Grubb, and 30-in. s.g. refl. by Common, the last four being on one stand; 8-in. altazimuth by Simms, erected 1896. The 26-in. and the 9-in. were presented by Sir H. Thompson. The standard “motor clock” is the centre of a system of electrically-controlled clocks scattered over the United Kingdom. The magnetic and meteorological department was founded in 1838; it contains a complete set of instruments giving continuous phot. records. The Observations are published with all details from 1750, beginning with 1836 in annual bulky quarto volumes; special results—e.g., Star Catalogues, Reductions of Lunar and Planetary Observations—are published in separate volumes.
South Kensington, Solar physics obs., lat. +51° 29′ 48·0″, long. 0 h. 0 m. 41·5 s. W. Founded 1879, under Sir N. Lockyer; 3-ft. refl. and 30-in. refl. by Common; 10-in. refr. by Cooke, and several siderostats with attachments for spectroscopic and phot. work.
Oxford, Radcliffe obs., lat. +51 ° 45′ 35·4″, long. 0 h. 5 m. 2·6 s. W. Founded in 1771 by the Radcliffe trustees. Obs. were regularly made, but none were published until 1839, when systematic obs. were begun with an 8-ft. transit instrument by Bird (1773) and a 6-ft. mural circle by Jones (1836). Heliometer (712 in.) by Repsold (1849); meridian circle by Troughton and Simms, mounted in 1861, formerly belonging to Mr Carrington; 10-in. refr. by Cooke (1887), Grubb refr. with 24-in. phot. and 18-in. vis. o.g. (1902); self-recording meteorological instruments. Besides the annual 8vo vols. of Observations (from 1840), four catalogues of stars have been published.
Oxford, univ. obs., lat. +51° 45′ 34·2″, long. 0 h. 5 m. 0·4 s. W. Finished in 1875; is under the Savilian professor of astronomy; 1214-in. refr. by Grubb, and a 13-in. refl. made and presented by De La Rue. The former has been used for photometric obs.; the latter for taking lunar photographs, by means of which the late Professor Pritchard investigated the libration of the moon; 13-in. phot. refr. by Grubb attached to the 1214-in., used for phot. zone work.
Cambridge, lat. +52° 12′ 51·6″, long. 0 h. 0 m. 22·8 s. E. Founded by the univ. senate in 1820. Chiefly devoted to meridian work-up to 1870 with a 5-in. transit by Dollond and a mural circle by Jones; a new meridian circle by Simms, of 8-in. ap. and 3-ft. circles, was then erected. The “Northumberland equatorial” was mounted in the “English” fashion in 1838; the o.g. by Cauchoix is of 1112-in. ap. R. S. Newall’s 25-in. refr. by Cooke, erected 1891, used for spectrographic work; siderostatic refr. with 12-in. o.g. by Cooke, 1898. In 1908 the instruments of Sir W. Huggins’ obs. were presented by the Royal Society.
Durham, univ. obs., lat. +54° 46′ 6·2″, long. 0 h. 6 m. 19·8 s. W. Founded in 1841; small meridian circle by Simms, refr. by Fraunhofer of 612-in. ap., Almucantar of 6-in. ap. by Cooke (1900).
Liverpool (Bidston, Birkenhead), lat. +53° 24′ 4·8″, long. 0 h. 12 m. 17·3 s. W. Founded in 1838 by the municipal council; transferred in 1856 to the Docks and Harbour Board; moved to Birkenhead in 1867. Specially intended for testing the rates of chronometers under different temperatures. Transit instrument by Troughton and Simms, and an 8-in. refr. by Merz.
Kew (Richmond), lat. +51° 28′ 6″, long. 0 h. 1 m. 15·1 s. W. The central meteorological obs. of the United Kingdom, with self-registering meteorological and magnetical instruments. Established in 1842 under the auspices of the British Association, afterwards transferred to the Royal Society. Since 1900 a department of the National Laboratory. A photoheliograph was employed at De La Rue’s expense to take daily sun-pictures from 1863 to 1872.
Edinburgh, royal obs., Blackford Hill, lat. +55° 57′ 28·0″, long. 0 h. 12 m. 44·2 s. W. Founded in 1811 by subscription; the building on Calton Hill erected in 1818. In 1834 the founders handed over the administration to the government, and in 1846 the ownership was similarly transferred. Since 1834 the obs. has been under the direction of the astronomer-royal for Scotland, who is also professor of practical astronomy in the univ. Professor T. Henderson (1833–1845) began extensive meridian obs. of fixed stars with a mural circle of 6-ft. diameter and an 8-ft. transit. A 2-ft. s.g. refl. by Grubb was erected in 1872. New obs. erected on Blackford Hill 1893–1895 for the instruments presented by Lord Crawford; 15-in. refr. by Grubb, transit circle by Simms of 8-in. ap., 12-in. s.g. refl. by Browning, two 6-in. refrs. and a very fine library; also the 2-ft. refl. The old obs. on Calton Hill now belongs to the city and is used for instruction; a 21-in. refr. by Wragge has been erected.
Glasgow, univ. obs., lat. +55° 52′ 42·8″, long. 0 h. 17 m. 10·6 s. W. Organized in 1840 by subscription, aided by subsidies from the univ. and the state. Meridian circle by Ertel of 6-in. ap.; 9-in. refr. by Cooke, 20-in. s.g. refl. by Grubb with spectrograph. Two catalogues of stars were published by the late director, R. Grant.
Dublin, situated about 4 m. N.W. of Dublin at Dunsink, lat. +53° 23′ 13·1″, long. 0 h. 25 m. 21·1 s. W. Belongs to the univ.; erected in 1785; is under the direction of the “Andrews professor of astronomy and royal astronomer of Ireland.” In 1808 a reversible meridian circle by Ramsden and Berge of 8-ft. diameter was put up, with which Brinkley observed assiduously till 1827. In 1868 was erected a refr. of 1134-in. ap. by Cauchoix (o.g. formerly belonging to and given by Sir J. South), which has been used for researches on stellar parallax. A meridian circle by Pistor and Martins of 6·4-in. ap. was mounted in 1873, and a 15-in. s.g. refl. for phot. work in 1889. Astronomical Observations and Researches made at Dunsink in 4to parts.
Armagh, lat. +54° 21′ 12·7″, long. 0 h. 26 m. 35·4 s. W. Founded and endowed by Archbishop R. Robinson in 1790. Possessed very few instruments until the obs. was enlarged by Archbishop Lord John George Beresford in 1827, when a mural circle and a transit by Jones were provided, with which meridian obs. were made till 1883, published in two star catalogues; 10-in. refr. by Grubb (1885) used for micrometer work.
B. Principal Private Observatories in 1908.
Mr W. Coleman’s obs., Buckland, Dover, lat. +51° 8′ 12″, long. 0 h. 5 m. 11 s. E. Cooke 8-in. refr. used for obs. of double stars.
Mr J. Franklin-Adams’s obs., Mervel Hill, Hambledon, Surrey, lat. +51° 8′ 11·6″, long. 0 h. 2 m. 30·2 s. W. Erected 1903; twin equatorial by Cooke with 12-in. and 6-in. lenses, another with 8-in. and 6-in. lenses, used for phot. survey of the heavens with special reference to the Milky Way. The former instrument was used at the Cape in 1903–1904.
Rev. T. E. Espin’s obs., Tow Law, Darlington, lat. +54° 43′ 30″, long. 0 h. 7 m. 14 s. W. 1714-in. refl. by Calver, used since 1888 for spectroscopy and obs. of double stars.
Mr W. H. Maw’s obs., Kensington, lat. +51° 30′ 2·8″, long. 0 h. 0 m. 49·4 s. W., 6-in. refr. by Cooke (1886). Also at Outwood, Surrey, lat. +51° 11′ 38″, long. 0 h. 0 m. 23·7 s. W., 8-in. refr. by Cooke (1896), both used on double stars.
Sir Wilfrid Peek’s obs., Rousdon, Lyme Regis, lat. +50° 42′ 38″, long. 0 h. 11 m. 59·0 s. W. Erected by the late Sir Cuthbert Peek in 1885; 6·4-in. refr. by Merz used for obs. variable stars.
Earl of Rosse’s obs., Birr Castle, King’s county, Ireland, lat. +53° 5′ 47″, long. 0 h. 31 m. 40·9 s. W. In 1839 the earl made and mounted a refl. of 3-ft. ap. (remounted as equat. in 1876), and in 1845 he completed the celebrated refl. of 6-ft. ap. and 54-ft. focal length. These instruments, particularly the latter, were used from 1848 to 1878 for obs. of nebulae, and revealed many new features in these bodies; results published in the Phil. Trans. and collected systematically in the Trans. Roy. Dubl. Soc. (1879–1880). Experiments were made by the present earl to determine the amount of heat radiated from the moon.
Rugby School (Temple Obs.), lat. +52° 22′ 7″, long. 0 h. 5 m. 2 s. W. Founded in 1872; 814-in. refr. by Clark, used for obs. of double stars and of stellar spectra.
Stonyhurst College obs., Lancashire, lat. +53° 50′ 40″, long. 0 h. 9 m. 52·7 s. W. An 8-in. refr. by Troughton and Simms, mounted in 1867, used for spectroscopic and micrometric obs.; 15-in. Perry memorial refr. by Grubb mounted in 1893, used chiefly for solar work.
C. Private Observatories now discontinued.
Mr J. G. Barclay’s obs., Leyton, Essex, lat. +51° 34′ 34″, long. 0 h. 0 m. 0·9 s. W. In activity from 1862 till 1886, 10-in. refr. by Cooke; chiefly devoted to double stars.
Mr G. Bishop’s obs., South Villa, Regent’s Park, London, lat. +51° 31′ 29·9″, long. 0 h. 0 m. 37·1 s. W. In activity from 1836 to 1861, then removed to Twickenham, and discontinued in 1874; had a 7-in. refr. by Dollond, with which Mr J. R. Hind discovered ten minor planets and several comets, and constructed maps of stars near the ecliptic.
Mr R. C. Carrington’s obs., Redhill, lat. +51° 14′ 25·3″, long. 0 h. 0 m. 41·3 s. W. Established in 1854; had a 412-in. refr. and transit circle of 5-in. ap. (now at Radcliffe Obs.). With the latter a catalogue of the positions of 3735 stars within 9° of the pole, with the former regular obs. of sun-spots, were made from 1853 to 1861.
