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← Thompson 30-inch Photographic Reflector (1896)
By Sir Howard Grubb, Dublin. Gift of Sir Henry Thompson (1820-1904), surgeon and amateur astronomer.
Mounted at Greenwich 1897-1947 in Thompson equatorial (South Building). At Herstmonceux from 1956 on fork mountings by Cox, Hargreaves & Thomson
30-inch Cassegrain reflector focal length 11 feet 5 in (f:4.5). Coudé system added 1963. Stellar spectroscopy, with photographic or image-intensifier recording. Feb 1908: Melotte discovered eighth satellite of Jupiter JVIII
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The RGO Telescopes at Herstmonceux To the north of the castle was the Spencer Jones Group of Meridian Instruments: the Photographic Zenith Tube (PZT - for time determination and latitude variation); the Danjon Astrolable (for time and latitude determination): and the Cooke reversible Transit Circle (for star positions and planetary positions & motion). Between the castle and the West Building, the Solar Dome housed the Newbegin 6¼ inch refractor, the Photoheliograph, and an underground Spectrohelioscope. . The Solar dome now houses an active Satellite Laser Ranging instrument.
The building that now houses the Observatory Science Centre was built to the east of the castle to provide six domes called the Equatorial Group: - the Astrographic 13 in refractor - the Thompson 30 inch reflector - the Thompson 26 in refractor - the Great Equatorial 28 in refractor - the Yapp 36 inch reflector A Schmidt camera was planned for the sixth dome but never mounted.
The Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) 98 inch reflector was housed in a separate dome to the south of the Equatorial Group |
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Yapp 36-inch Reflector (1932) →
Grubb Parsons, Newcastle 1932. £15,000 gift of William Johnston Yapp, industrialist. Mounted at Greenwich 1934-55 in Christie enclosure. At Herstmonceux from 1958
36-inch Cassegrain reflector on glass, 15 foot focal length (f:5) on modified English equatorial with 24 foot solid cast-iron polar axis. Used for measurement of colour temperature of stars, photo-electric photometry, and stellar spectroscopy. 1934-39 at Greenwich. 1939: mirrors dismounted. Jan 1946: mirrors aluminized, but ceased use by 1948 due to tarnishing of mirrors from atmospheric pollution - mirror silvered and in use again. 1955: dismantled and sent to Herstmonceux |
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← The Isaac Newton 98-inch (2.5 metre) Reflector (1967)
Pyrex disk presented by McGregor Trust, Michigan 1949. Grubb Parsons, England 1967. Mounted at Herstmonceux 1967. Dismounted for refurbishment and sent to La Palma 1979
Primary mirror 98-inch (2.5 metre) 24 foot 7 inch (750 cm) focal length with available foci: prime (f:3.3); Cassegrain (f:14); Coudé (f:32). Fork-type mounting. |
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Sources: Derek Howse & Others — “Greenwich Observatory 1675-1975”. London, Taylor & Francis 1975 Photos: David Calvert The Observatory Science Center http://www.the-observatory.org Chas. Parker http://www.cowbeech.force9.co.uk/RGO.htm ING Telescopes http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ING/ |
