Amazing refracting telescope...

[toc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZEvH_CH2QY&ab_channel=TheObservatoryScienceCen tre

[JA]

Thanks for posting that Tim. It was very enjoyable watch:thumbsup:

There was even a bonus at the end of the video another Youtube Video came up...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGrsDkufkc

Best
JA

[toc]

Over 19000 focal length :)

I wonder what's the largest refractor in Australia?

[ngcles]

Hi Toc,



So far as I am aware, the largest here is the 29.5cm Schroder refractor at Sydney Observatory.

Prior to the bushfires that destroyed Mt Stromlo in 2003, there was the 26" (66cm) Yale-Columbia refractor relocated from South Africa in 1952 (operated by the U.S as a foreign stattion) and then finally donated to Mt Stromlo Observatory in 1963.

Then there was the 9.1" Oddie refractor that started life in Victoria and was installed at Stromlo in 1911. That telescope was completely destroyed in 2003 too but has since be "re-created" on-site.

The Tebbutt Observatory near Windsor now again houses the 20.3cm Grubb & Parsons refractor used by Tebbutt himself and originally installed there in 1886.

Best,

L.

[toc]

Wow, thanks for that :thumbsup:

[toc]

Well Im down the rabbithole :D - here is a video showing the restoration of the 24 inch refractor at the Lowell Observatory - I vividly recall this from Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRiKpX-Xy9A&ab_channel=LowellObservatory

[Hans Tucker]

I thought it was the Oddie 9" Refractor but then reading a bit of ANU history I see there was a 26" Refractor (Yale-Columbia) in operation at Stromlo before the fires.

[ngcles]

Hi Toc,




I was a bucket-list moment for me a few days before the eclipse on the 21st August 2017 to view with that magnificent 24" Clark refractor at Flagstaff (2,200m elevation) -- a flawless gem of a telescope (well except for a bit of chromatic aberration). Saturn at about x450 was utterly sublime. It is an outstanding visual use telescope. I would have loved to stay longer (than a couple of hours) and view more objects (we also looked at a few PNe) but we were on a schedule.

Unforgettable!

Best,

L.