Abstract
MELBOURNE OBSERVATORY.—The Annual Report of this Observatory, dated August 14, 1887, states that the buildings and equipment of the Observatory were in good condition with the exception of the mirrors of the great Cassegrain reflector, which had become so dull as materially to interfere with the observation of the fainter nebulæ. It was proposed to substitute mirror A, the less tarnished of the two, for mirror B, now in the telescope, and either to have B repolished on the spot or to send it to Dublin to be re-polished under the care of Sir H. Grubb. The new transit circle was in excellent order, and 2487 right ascensions and 1301 polar distances had been observed during the year. Eighty-seven southern nebulæ had been examined with the great reflector, and four searched for, but not found. The use of the photo-heliograph, which had been altered in July 1886, so as to take pictures on a scale of 8 inches to the solar diameter, had been much interfered with by bad weather, and only 121 photographs had been secured. The principal fresh work proposed for the Observatory was the co-operation in the photographic survey of the heavens; the Victorian Government having consented to the Observatory joining in that undertaking, and having placed £1000 on the estimates of the current year towards the necessary expenditure.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 37, 381 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/037381a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/037381a0