The Practical Astronomer: Comprising illustrations of light and colours--practical descriptions of all kinds of telescopes--the use of the equatorial-transit--circular, and other astronomical instruments, a particular account of the Earl of Rosse's large telescopes, and other topics connected with astronomyDick, Thomas
Science
The Practical Astronomer: Comprising illustrations of light and colours--practical descriptions of all kinds of telescopes--the use of the equatorial-transit--circular, and other astronomical instruments, a particular account of the Earl of Rosse's large telescopes, and other topics connected with astronomy
Dick, Thomas
Astronomical instruments; Astronomy; Telescopes
The Astronomical Society of London have made trial of discs made by
Guinaud, and have found them entirely homogeneous and free from fault.
Of this ingenious artist’s flint glass, some of the largest achromatic
telescopes on the continent have been constructed. But, it is more
than twenty years since this experimenter took his flight from this
terrestrial scene, and it is uncertain whether his process be still
carried on with equal success.
_Notices of some large Achromatic telescopes on the Continent and in
Great Britain._
1. _The Dorpat Telescope._--This is one of the largest and most
expensive Refracting telescopes ever constructed. It was made by
the celebrated Fraunhofer of Munich for the observatory of the
Imperial University of Dorpat, and was received into the observatory
by Professor Struve in the year 1825. The aperture of the object
glass of this telescope is 9-1/2 English inches, and its solar focal
length about fourteen feet, the main tube being thirteen French feet
exclusive of the tube which holds the eye pieces. The smallest of the
four magnifying powers it possesses, is 175, and the largest 700,
which, in favourable weather, is said to present the object with the
utmost precision. ‘This instrument,’ says Struve, ‘was sold to us by
Privy-Counsellor VON UTZCHNEIDER, the chief of the optical
establishment at Munich, for 10,500 florins, (about £950 sterling), a
price which only covers the expenses which the establishment incurred
in making it.’ The frame work of the stand of this telescope is of oak
inlaid with pieces of mahogany in an ornamental manner, and the tube is
of deal veneered with mahogany and highly polished. The whole weight
of the telescope and its counterpoises is supported at one point, at
the common center of gravity of all its parts; and though these weigh
3000 Russian pounds, yet, we are told that this enormous telescope may
be turned in every direction towards the heavens with more ease and
certainty than any other hitherto in use. When the object end of the
telescope is elevated to the zenith, it is sixteen feet four inches,
Paris measure, above the floor, and its eye end in this position is
two feet nine inches high. This instrument is mounted on an Equatorial
stand, and clock work is applied to the Equatorial axis, which gives it
a smooth and regular sidereal motion, which, it is said, keeps a star
in the exact center of the field of view, and produces the appearance
of a state of rest in the starry regions, which motion can be made
solar, or even lunar, by a little change given to the place of a
pointer, that is placed as an index on the dial plate. Professor Struve
considers the optical powers of this telescope superior to those of
Schröeter’s twenty-five feet reflector, from having observed σ Orionis
with fifteen companions, though Schröeter observed only twelve, that
he could count with certainty. Nay, he seems disposed to place it in
competition with the late Sir W. Herschel’s forty feet reflector. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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