1920s run-off roof observatory

[jambouk]

I'd ordered a second hand book which arrived this morning, Astronomical Photography, by Henry Hayden Waters (1880-1939), which was published in 1921.

It is a fascinating little book, only of 96 pages or so.

Towards the back, there are a couple of pages in which he talks about a run-off roof observatory (below). I had no idea that this sort of design of observatory dated back so far.

Anyway, an interesting read.

James

[r3i]

Antique books can be fascinating and often show how far we have come in a relatively short space of time.

Your book looks very interesting - perhaps it could be described as a prequel to "Making Every Photon Count"?
 

[jambouk]

"...perhaps it could be described as a prequel to "Making Every Photon Count"?"... even after 94 years, it wasn't much cheaper than Making Every Photon Count!

[laser_jock99]

Nice find- just goes to show there's not much new in the world.

[laudropb]

Looks like a very interesting book. Thanks for posting.

[Ouroboros]

The description "telescope house" is rather quaint. Was the word "observatory" not around then?

[jambouk]

No, the term observatory seems to be common place prior to the 1920s. This copy of the memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1849 has over 80 entries for observatory, and none for "house" refer to an observatory:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wWtaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=admiral+shirreff&source=bl&ots=SDbPcqgKln&sig=msQStBd615dkwL_brXsa-FwFqGE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAzgKahUKEwjcrJjfpuXHAhWIbR4KHQ5qBbs#v=onepage&q=admiral%20shirreff&f=false

I wonder if the author wanted to encourage people to build their own observatories and by using another term he thought it would make the reader feel it was more within their reach if it was a telescope house than an observatory. Who knows.

James

[JeremyS]

Talking of old observatories, there is an online book, originally published in 1907, that lists observatories, amateur and professional, across Europe.

There are dozens in UK, many of which no longer list. You can look up observatories near where you live - you might find some surprises.

It's called "Les observatoires astronomiques et les astronomes" by Paul Stroobant of the Royal Observatory Belgium and is available here https://archive.org/details/lesobservatoires00obse

It's in French, but easily decipherable!

Go well!

Jeremy

[JamesF]

Perhaps when the book was written an "observatory" had to have a dome?

James

[JohnC64]

A very nice book.  I must admit that my obsy design doesn't have a flag :-)

John