On Saturday 9 April, 17 of us visited the Observatory Science Centre at Herstmonceux in East Sussex. From the 1950’s to the 1980’s this was the site of the Royal Observatory. The original, now called the Old Royal Observatory, was the site set up by Sir Christopher Wren at Greenwich, and was responsible for the Greenwich meridian becoming the point of zero longitude and the reference point for the measurement of time. In the 1940’s, the area around London was becoming too polluted, in the air as well as by lighting, and the observatory was moved to the grounds of the magnificent Herstmonceux Castle, just 6 miles from the Sussex coast.
The focus of the observatory is the six domes that make up the Equatorial Group, built to house 3 reflectors and 3 refractors. Today, dome E houses the Thompson 26-inch refractor and dome B the Yapp 36-inch reflector. These are open to the public, along with the non-working 38-inch Congo Schmidt reflector, which is the centrepiece of the “Domes of Discovery” exhibition in dome F. The other domes - A, C and D - house the Thompson 30-inch reflector, the 34-inch Hewitt camera and the 13-inch Astrographic refractor. They are not normally open to public, but we were given a special chance to see these superb telescopes.
Here are some photos of the trip. Click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the pictures.
Jerry
|
Dome D and the lily pond a major hazard for astronomers working without torches! |
|
The Yapp reflector |
|
The domes of the Equatorial Group |
|
Stan wonders if they'd miss the 13-inch refractor :) |
|
The Satellite Laser Ranging facility in its rooftop clamshell dome |
