1.5-inch Cooke anastigmatic lens used in Sky Patrol cameras
Date: 1898
Inventory Number: 2014-1-0008
Classification: Astrograph
Subject:
Maker: Taylor, Taylor and Hobson (founded 1886)
Maker: Willard P. Gerrish (1874 - 1937)
User: Oak Ridge Station (1931 - 2005)
User: George R. Agassiz Station, Harvard (1951 - 1982)
User: Harvard College Observatory (founded 1839)
Dimensions:
12 × 9.8 × 9.8 cm (4 3/4 × 3 7/8 × 3 7/8 in.)
Description:
1.5-inch Cooke triplet lens in weathered, red brass housing, mounted into an aluminum adaptor. The outside of the adaptor is threaded.
Signedaround lens: COOKE ANASTIGMAT LENS 8 x 10 inches No. 30401 f/8 13 inch SERIES V
on barrel: TAYLOR TAYLOR & HOBSON LTD. Leicester London New York
on barrel: TAYLOR TAYLOR & HOBSON LTD. Leicester London New York
Inscribedon barrel: No. 30401
Historical AttributesA 1.5-inch Cooke lens was mounted in a meteor patrol telescope first at the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge and then at the Oak Ridge Observatory.
The photographic plate series was AC. The plates were 8 x 10 inches. The focal length was 13 inches. The scale was 600 arc seconds / mm.
Plates
1-32288 Cambridge 1898/ 05/ 09 -- 1934/ 08/ 16
32289-42533 Oak Ridge 1934/ 08/ 17 --1957/ 05/ 16
Several Cooke lenses were interchanged at the beginning of the series. This particular lens (V30401) was used from plate number 13067 onward. This shows that lens was used both in Cambridge and Oak Ridge in the Sky Patrol Cameras.
The sky patrol cameras had a unique mounting designed by engineer and professor Willard P. Gerrish.
The photographic plate series was AC. The plates were 8 x 10 inches. The focal length was 13 inches. The scale was 600 arc seconds / mm.
Plates
1-32288 Cambridge 1898/ 05/ 09 -- 1934/ 08/ 16
32289-42533 Oak Ridge 1934/ 08/ 17 --1957/ 05/ 16
Several Cooke lenses were interchanged at the beginning of the series. This particular lens (V30401) was used from plate number 13067 onward. This shows that lens was used both in Cambridge and Oak Ridge in the Sky Patrol Cameras.
The sky patrol cameras had a unique mounting designed by engineer and professor Willard P. Gerrish.
Primary SourcesHarlow Shapley, "Eighty-ninth Annual Report of the Director," 1935.
ProvenanceOak Ridge Observatory, Building # 16, transferred to CHSI, 2014.