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Great Melbourne Telescope
Image: Erection of Great Melbourne Telescope, 1869
Source: Museum Victoria
The Great Melbourne Telescope was built by Thomas Grubb of Dublin in 1868 and erected at Melbourne Observatory in 1869. It was a reflector telescope with a speculum (metal) mirror of 48 inches in diameter; at the time it was the second largest telescope in the world and the largest in the southern hemisphere.
The design and construction was overseen by a committee of eminent British astronomers, who developed the telescope to study the nebulae of the southern hemisphere skies. It was the first major telescope built by Thomas Grubb, and revolutionary in many aspects of its design. The firm went on to make many of the major telescopes around the world in the second half of the 19th century.
The telescope never lived up to expectations, due to difficulties with constant tarnishing of its mirrors, flexure in the mirrors, and its relative unsuitability for the new astronomical techniques of photography and spectroscopy. The telescope was operated at Melbourne Observatory by a dedicated Great Melbourne Telescope Observer: Albert Le Seuer (1869-70), E.F. MacGeorge (1870-72), Joseph Turner (1873-83), Pietro Baracchi (1883-92); thereafter it was used only intermittently.
When Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the telescope was sold to the Commonwealth Observatory at Mount Stromlo, Canberra. At Mount Stromlo the telescope was given a new 50-inch glass mirror, and became an integral part of Mt Stromlo's work during the 1960s. In the early 1990s the telescope was rebuilt with two detector mosaics for the MACHO project, and the telescope in this form found the first observational evidence for dark matter. Then in January 2003 a bushfire swept across Mt Stromlo, its firestorm destroying the majority of the telescopes and buildings.
Since the early 1980s Museum Victoria had progressively been retrieving discarded parts of the Great Melbourne Telescope as Mt Stromlo rebuilt the instrument. The remaining parts of the telescope at Mount Stromlo were dismantled in 2008 and returned to Melbourne. A project has now commenced to restore the telescope.
References:
Gascoigne, S.C.B. (1995). 'The Great Melbourne Telescope and other 19th century reflectors', Historical Records of Australian Science, 10, pp. 223-245.
Melbourne Observatory (1885). Observations of the Southern Nebulae made with the Great Melbourne Telescope from 1869 to 1885, Part 1. Government Printer, Melbourne.
Robinson, T. R. & Grubb, Thomas (1868). 'Description of the Great Melbourne Telescope', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 159, pp.127-161.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 46) 46 items
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Great Melbourne Telescope - Grubb, 1868
Great Melbourne Telescope, built by Thomas Grubb of Dublin in 1868 and erected at Melbourne Observatory in 1869. Reflector telescope, Cassegrain design, with a 48 inch speculum (metal ...
From: Dublin, Ireland Images: 1 -
Negative - Pietro Baracchi, Government Astronomer
Pietro Baracchi, Government Astronomer 1895-1915,
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
Pipe Stand & Pipes - Ettore Checchi, circa 1880-1920
Set of pipes which belonged to Ettore Checchi and were used by him in Melbourne during the first half of the 20th century. Ettore migrated from Florence, Italy in 1876, with two friends ...
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Photograph - Orion Nebula, Taken with the Great Melbourne Telescope, Victoria, 26 Feb 1883
Photograph of Orion Nebula, taken by Joseph Turner with the Great Melbourne Telescope on 26 Feb 1883, with an exposure of 4 minutes.
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Photograph - K Crucis, Taken With The Great Melbourne Telescope, Victoria, 3 Mar 1883
Photograph of the Kappa Crucis Cluster, named the 'Jewel Box', in the constellation of Crux. Photograph taken by Joseph Turner with the Great Melbourne Telescope on March 3 1883, with a ...
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Digital Image - Melbourne Observatory Staff, circa 1895
Group portrait of staff at Melbourne Observatory, in front of the East Transit Room, circa 1895. Government Astronomer Robert Ellery retired in 1895, and was replaced by Pietro Baracch ...
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Digital Image - Telegram, R.L.J. Ellery to Mr Moore, Crown Lands Office, Melbourne, 1873
Telegram from R.L.J. Ellery, Government Astronomer to Mr Moore, Crown Lands Office, 14 January 1873, requesting the attendance of Frederick Kemp at Melbourne Observatory. Kemp at the t ...
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Negative - Portrait of Pietro Baracchi, Government Astronomer
Pietro Baracchi, Government Astronomer 1895-1915.
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Negative - Erection of Great Melbourne Telescope, 1869
Erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 2 -
Negative - Great Melbourne Telescope, Diagram
Diagram of the Great Melbourne Telescope, erected at the Melbourne Observatory, 1868
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
Glass Negative - Pietro Baracchi at Melbourne Observatory, South Yarra, Victoria, circa 19 ...
Pietro Baracchi, Government Astronomer 1895-1915, standing at the entrance of the main observatory building, Melbourne Observatory
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
Negative - The Great Melbourne Telescope, Melbourne Observatory, South Yarra, Victoria, ci ...
The Biggest Family Album of Australia, Museum Victoria
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 1 -
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Photograph - Erection of Great Melbourne Telescope, Framed, 1869
Framed photograph of the erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, in early 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Photograph - Eta Argus Nebula, taken with Great Melbourne Telescope, 1883
Experimental photograph of Eta Argus Nebula taken by Joseph Turner with the Great Melbourne Telescope, 7 January 1883. In 1882 astronomers in Britain and America began to successfully ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Photograph - Eta Argus Nebula, taken with Great Melbourne Telescope, 1883
Experimental photograph of Eta Argus Nebula taken by Joseph Turner with the Great Melbourne Telescope, probably early 1883. In 1882 astronomers in Britain and America began to successf ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
Stereograph - Erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 1869
Stereograph of the Great Melbourne Telescope being erected at the Melbourne Observatory, 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 3 -
Stereograph - Erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 1869
Stereograph of the Great Melbourne Telescope being erected at the Melbourne Observatory, 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 3 -
No Image Available
Photograph - Orion Nebula, taken with Great Melbourne Telescope, 1883
Photograph of the Orion Nebula, taken by Joseph Turner with Great Melbourne Telescope, 26 February 1883. In 1882 astronomers in Britain and America began to successfully use the more s ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
Lithograph - Plate 7, Observations of the Southern Nebulae made with the Great Melbourne T ...
Plate 7 from the Observations of the Southern Nebulae made with the Great Melbourne Telescope 1869 - 1885, by Joseph Turner (Artist) , E.R. Morris (Lithographer) J. Finnie (Printer). L ...
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Stereograph - Erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 1869
Stereograph of the Great Melbourne Telescope being erected at the Melbourne Observatory, 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 3 -
Stereograph - Erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 1869
Stereograph of the Great Melbourne Telescope being erected at the Melbourne Observatory, 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 3 -
Lithograph - Plate 2, Observations of the Southern Nebulae made with the Great Melbourne T ...
Plate 2, No. 8 - 19 from the Observations of the Southern Nebulae made with the Great Melbourne Telescope 1869 - 1885, by Joseph Turner (Artist) , E.R. Morris (Lithographer) J. Finnie ...
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Lithograph - Eta Carinae Nebula, Plate 8, Observations of the Southern Nebulae made with t ...
Plate 8 from the Observations of the Southern Nebulae made with the Great Melbourne Telescope depicting eta Carinae Nebula by Joseph Turner (Artist). Lithograph, edition 1 of 240, 1875.
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Stereograph - Erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 1869
Stereograph of the Great Melbourne Telescope being erected at the Melbourne Observatory, 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 3 -
Stereograph - Erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 1869
Stereograph of the Great Melbourne Telescope being erected at the Melbourne Observatory, 1869.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 3 -
No Image Available
Chronograph - Melbourne Observatory, 1870s
Chronograph from Melbourne Observatory, designed by Government Astronomer Robert Ellery and built at the observatory workshop in the 1860s or 1870s. This was one of several chronograp ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Chronograph - Melbourne Observatory, 1870s
Chronograph from Melbourne Observatory, designed by Government Astronomer Robert Ellery and built at the observatory workshop in the 1860s or 1870s. This was one of several chronograp ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
Printing Plate - Great Melbourne Telescope Visitors Ticket, circa 1890
Hand engraved copper printing plate, for printing admittance tickets for public viewings of the Great Melbourne Telescope. There was onsiderable public demand for viewing the telescop ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
Photograph - Great Melbourne Telescope, South Yarra, Victoria, circa 1870
Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, circa 1870. The 48 inch equatorial reflecting telescope was constructed by Thomas Grubb, Dublin and installed at the observatory in ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 2 -
Negative - Government Astronomer Robert Ellery, Melbourne Observatory, circa 1880s
Robert Ellery, Government Astronomer, at his desk in the Astronomer's office, Melbourne Observatory.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
Negative - Portrait of Robert Ellery, Government Astronomer, circa 1880s
Robert Lewis John Ellery, Victorian Government Astronomer
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
Mounted Print - The Great Melbourne Telescope, 1868
Coloured engraving of the Great Melbourne Telescope, from The Illustrated London News, 14 November 1868. The image is based on a photograph of the telescope temporarily erected in Thom ...
From: Dublin, Ireland Images: 2 -
Engraving - The Great Melbourne Telescope, Melbourne Observatory, South Yarra, Victoria, 1 ...
Three coloured engravings on one sheet of the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory. Originally published in The Australasian Sketcher, June-July 1874. 1. 'An Observer at ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 5 -
Mounted Print - The Moon, from a Photograph taken by the Great Melbourne Telescope, 1874
Black and white engraving of the Moon, published in The Australasian Sketcher, 11 July 1874. Based on a photograph taken with the Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, 18 ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 2 -
Mounted Print - At the Melbourne Observatory, Watching for the Comet, 1884
Coloured engraving of an astronomer using the 8 inch south equatorial telescope at Melbourne Observatory to view a comet. From the front page of The Illustrated Australian News, 19 Marc ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
No Image Available
Measuring Rods - 10 Foot, Geodetic Survey of Victoria, 1860
Three iron measuring rods used in the Geodetic Survey of Victoria in the 1860s. The measuring rods were used to measure accurately a base line of approximately 5 miles near Werribee. Di ...
From: London, United Kingdom Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Glass Positive - Orion Nebula, Melbourne Observatory, 1890
Photo of Orion Nebula taken by Robert Ellery at Melbourne Observatory, 23 Dec 1890. Probably taken with the newly erected Astrograph telescope.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Glass Positive - Stars, Melbourne Observatory, 1891
Experimental photograph of star cluster taken by Robert Ellery with the Astrograph telescope at Melbourne Observatory on 13 February 1891, soon after its installation.
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Glass Positive - Stars, Melbourne Observatory, 1891
Experimental photograph of star cluster taken by Robert Ellery with the Astrograph telescope at Melbourne Observatory on 3 February 1891, soon after its installation.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Glass Positive - Stars, Melbourne Observatory, 1890
Experimental photograph of stars taken by Robert Ellery at Melbourne Observatory on 24 Dec 1890, in preparation for the Astrograph project.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Glass Positive - Stars, Melbourne Observatory, 1891
Experimental photograph of stars taken by Robert Ellery with the Astrograph telescope at Melbourne Observatory on 18 January 1891, soon after its installation.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Glass Positive - Star Cluster, Melbourne Observatory, 1891
Experimental photograph of star cluster taken by Robert Ellery with the Astrograph telescope at Melbourne Observatory on 17 February 1891, soon after its installation.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
Glass Positive - Star Cluster, Eta Argus, Melbourne Observatory, 1890
Experimental photograph of stars taken by Robert Ellery at Melbourne Observatory on 24 Dec 1890, in preparation for the Astrograph project.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
Regulator Clock - Charles Frodsham, London, No.1062, 1865
Eight day long-case astronomical regulator clock, by Charles Frodsham, London, No. 1062, 1865. Weight driven, with dead-beat escapement and mercury compensation pendulum. Used at Melbou ...
From: London, United Kingdom Images: 3 -
Regulator Clock - Robert Ellery, Melbourne Observatory, 1888
Astronomical regulator clock designed by Government Astronomer Robert Ellery and built at Melbourne Observatory in 1888. The clock was probably made by Observatory instrument maker Carl ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 16 -
Transit Telescope - Portable, 3.25-inch, Troughton & Simms, London, circa 1850
Portable transit telescope, 3.25 inch aperture, 42 inch focus, made by Troughton & Simms, London, circa 1850. This instrument was transferred from the Victorian Survey Department to Wi ...
From: London, United Kingdom Images: 1
