Observatory Astronomical

As to private observatories, that of Stephen Groombridge at Blackheath (about 1802) was merely an apartment in his dwelling house, containing a transit circle with which he made a star cata logue that has taken a notable place in fundamental astronomy. Another that achieved notoriety was that of James South, a Lon don surgeon, who set up an observatory in south London in 1316 which he removed to Kensington, Admiral Smyth at Bedford and Dr. Lee at Hartwell were two well-known astronomers who had establishments of the kind about the year 183o. Mr. E. J. Cooper, a young enthusiast in astronomy, established an observatory in 1831 at Markree castle, Sligo, for which he bought a i3in. object glass by Cauchoix, then the largest in the world, and supplied it with other notable instruments. With the help of assistants, work was carried on at this observatory until Mr. Cooper's death in 1863. The reflecting telescope with 6ft. mirror made by Lord Rosse and set up at his seat, Parsonstown, Ireland, in 1845, is famous, and scarcely less so are the smaller instruments of the same type made by William Lassell, and used by him at Liver pool 1844-52. Another observatory of the period was that of Mr. George Bishop at South Villa, Regent's Park, which had as its principal instrument an equatorially-mounted, clock-driven tele scope of yin. aperture, which was used for discovering and ob serving small planets and other work by Dawes, Hind, etc.

At his observatory established at Redhill in 1852 Mr. Richard Carrington made a catalogue of the positions of circumpolar stars, and a record of sunspots which are both works considered classic in the science.

Observatories established in England in the second half of the century were those of De la Rue, a pioneer in astronomical photography, at Cranford in Middlesex; of George Knott at Cuckfield, Sussex; of William Huggins, the famous spectroscopist, at Tulse Hill, the private observatory of Norman Lockyer, who afterwards developed spectroscopic research at a state-supported establishment at South Kensington. Those of Crossley at Hali fax, Yorkshire, and Espin at Towlaw, Durham, have reputations based on double-star observations, whilst the observatory at Dunecht, established by Lord Lindsay, heir to the earl of Craw ford and Balcarres in 1871, which endured for about ten years, is perhaps most remembered for having introduced David Gill into the astronomical world. At present (1929) there are a dozen private observatories in England, perhaps of smaller pretensions outwardly, but each used by its actual owner for some chosen line of work.

Colonial Observatories.

A feature of the 19th century was the establishment of British Colonial observatories. Acting on the proposal of the Board of Longitude in 1820, the Lords Commis sioners of the Admiralty resolved to establish an observatory at the Cape of Good Hope for the improvement of practical astron omy, which came into being in the year 1829, and has adequately fulfilled its purpose as a Government observatory under the direc torship of Maclear, Stone, Gill, Hough and Jones of the present day. This observatory has a reversible transit-circle of the latest

type—a heliometer and an equatorially-mounted twin telescope with objectives 24in. and i8in. in aperture for photographic and spectroscopic work; gifts of Mr. Frank Maclear.

The first observatory on Australian soil was one on Dawes Point, the headland on which stands the present Sydney observa tory, established in 1786 at Maskelyne's instigation for the ob servation of a comet expected to return in 1789. Beyond this little is known of the Dawes Point observatory, but in 1822 Sir Thomas Brisbane, then governor of New South Wales, built and furnished an observatory at Paramatta a few miles to the west of Sydney, where an excellent star-catalogue was made by Carl Runsker, and carried on at his expense until the year 1827.

In 1853 Mr. Ellery was appointed to superintend an astro nomical observatory at Williamstown which was removed to Mel bourne in 1861-63. With the observatories of Sydney and Perth, Melbourne is taking a share in the international work of charting the heavens by photography, and with this meridian observing, magnetism, seismology. meteorology and time-service form its activities. In 1855 Charles Todd was appointed Government as tronomer of South Australia, but the Adelaide observatory was not completed until 1861. The observatory of Western Australia at Perth was established 3o years later. The aim of a small observatory established at Wellington, New Zealand, under Sir James Hector in 1869 for time-service has lately been enlarged and the institution is now called the Dominion observatory.

Continental Observatories.

During this period many ob servatories were established on the continent of Europe, two of which were made famous by the labours of Wilhelm Struve. The University of Dorpat, Livonia, Russia, possessed in 1809 an ob servatory of small dimensions, scantily equipped, of which Struve, a student of astronomy in the university, was given charge in the year 1813. His successful work attracted the attention of the Russian Government, and soon the observatory was furnished with such instruments and pecuniary means as to raise it to the rank of a first-class establishment, where Struve, almost single handed, produced results of a very high standard. Attracted by Struve's work the Emperor Nicholas in 1833 resolved to erect a central observatory for the empire of Russia, and, largely to Struve's design, an observatory was completed in 1839, at Pui kowa near St. Petersburg, which was considered to be the finest and best equipped of the time. It may be described as a collec tion of buildings forming the home of a number of astronomers.