Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 ‘The astronomer … must come to the chemist’
- 3 The young observer
- 4 ‘A sudden impulse …’
- 5 The riddle of the nebulae
- 6 Moving in the inner circle
- 7 Stellar motion along the line of sight
- 8 A new telescope
- 9 Solar observations
- 10 An able assistant
- 11 Photographing the solar corona
- 12 A scientific lady
- 13 Foes and allies
- 14 The new astronomy
- 15 ‘One true mistress’
- 16 Conclusion
- Appendix: ‘The new astronomy: A personal retrospect’
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
8 - A new telescope
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 ‘The astronomer … must come to the chemist’
- 3 The young observer
- 4 ‘A sudden impulse …’
- 5 The riddle of the nebulae
- 6 Moving in the inner circle
- 7 Stellar motion along the line of sight
- 8 A new telescope
- 9 Solar observations
- 10 An able assistant
- 11 Photographing the solar corona
- 12 A scientific lady
- 13 Foes and allies
- 14 The new astronomy
- 15 ‘One true mistress’
- 16 Conclusion
- Appendix: ‘The new astronomy: A personal retrospect’
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
The Royal Society some three or four years ago, when I was myself on the council, voted a sum of money for the construction of a large telescope to be placed in the hands of Dr. Huggins …. [T]hough I voted with the rest of the council for this grant of money…, I objected then, as I object now, to an arrangement which I did not think a satisfactory one.
– Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander StrangeOn 4 April 1868, at about the same time Huggins was completing his paper on stellar motion in the line of sight, he received a visit from Howard Grubb (1844–1931). Son – and now partner – of engineer and telescope maker Thomas Grubb, young Howard had spent the last two years supervising the construction of the Great Melbourne telescope, a state-of-the-art instrument for studying nebulae in the southern sky. Its construction had been commissioned by the Royal Society on behalf of, and with funds provided by, the state of Victoria, Australia. Recently completed, the monumental 4-ft Cassegrain would soon be bound for Melbourne.
Accompanying Grubb on his visit was astronomer Albert Adolphus Adalbert LeSueur (1849–1906), who had observed the figuring of the mirrors and would be assisting in the instrument's operation at the University of Melbourne's observatory. Huggins took great pride in showing his observatory to guests like these, who knew and appreciated not only the fine quality of his instruments, but the skill required to put them to good use.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Unravelling StarlightWilliam and Margaret Huggins and the Rise of the New Astronomy, pp. 126 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011