What does a good observatory need?
Telescopes!
Let's take a look at some of the key instruments used on Mount Stromlo across the last 100 years.
Oddie telescope (9 inch refractor)
The Oddie telescope after being reassembled at Melbourne Observatory before its move to Mount Stromlo for testing, c. 1910. Courtesy of ANU Archives
Built in Dublin by the manufacturer, Grubb, the Oddie telescope was purchased by James Oddie. Oddie was a philanthropist who happened to be fascinated by the skies. He originally purchased the telescope and had it installed in a purpose-built observatory in Ballarat. Oddie would open the observatory to the general public to educate people about the night sky...
Hearing about the future Solar Observatory, Oddie offered the 9 inch Grubb telescope to Dr. Duffield in the hope that 'it form the nucleas of a solar observatory anywhere in the Commonwealth.'
After traversing overland from Ballarat to Melbourne, then Melbourne to Canberra via Queanbeyan railway station, the Oddie arrived with some damage to its objective lens. Back to Melbourne it went for repairs before finally returning permanently to its home on Mount Stromlo in September 1911.
While the Oddie was a very important telescope, that helped survey the southern skies from the earliest days of the observatory site, it became apparent to Dr. Duffield that the Oddie had limited use. On 4 October 1926, an article was published in The Herald in which he explained:
We have attached a large prism in front of the telescope, and use that as a spectroscope for taking photographs of the stars, 500 having been developed... The Oddie instrument, however, is too weak for the smaller stars, and within 18 months or two years, our work on the larger stars will have been exhausted, and we shall need a much larger telescope.
The Oddie telescope was destroyed in the 2003 bushfires. Remnants of the telescope are on display at the Mount Stromlo visitor centre.
The Farnham telescope (6 inch refractor)
The Farnham telescope in a temporary wooden hut before being relocated to its dome on the Administration Building, c. 1928. Courtesy of National Archives of Australia, Mildenhall Collection
While the Oddie telescope was the first to be installed on Mount Stromlo, the Farnham telescope was the first to be offered to Australia to equip a new Commonwealth Solar Observatory.
Originally purchased by Lord Farnham, the 'Farnham telescope' was built in 1886 by Sir Howard Grubb of Dublin. Lord Farnham used the telescope on his English estate until his death. It was his express wish that the telescope be used to further knowledge about the universe, and so, when Dr. Duffield approached his estate in 1908, the executors were only too happy for the Farnham telescope to find a new, useful home in Australia.
In 1910, the telescope was sent back to Dublin to the workshops of Sir Howard Grubb and Sons. Here, it was put back into working order and altered for southern latitude.
Ready to head to its final destination, the telescope was packaged in crates and sent from Dublin to Glasgow by steamer, then departing Glasgow for the long journey on to Melbourne via the S.S. Ascanius in 1914.
The Farnham was eventually transported to Canberra and installed in a temporary wooden hut before being permanently relocated to a dome on the Administration Building at Mount Stromlo Observatory.
After the 2003 Canberra bushfire, it was the only telescope at the observatory to remain in tact. It was removed from its dome for safety reasons, used for a short time as an educational telescope, and then moved into a temporary shed on the site.
As of 16 November 2024, it has a new temporary home at CMAG in the Outer Space: Stromlo to the Stars exhibition!
The Reynolds telescope (30-inch reflector)
Reynold's 30 inch reflector telescope with Cassegrain spectrograph, c.1950s. Courtesy of ANU Archives
The telescope was used by astronomer and instrumentalist Ben Gascoigne, in the 1950s, to study stars in the Magellanic Cloud galaxies. These studies led to the discovery that the Universe was twice the size and age than previously thought!
During the 1990s, the Reynolds was used to monitor supernovae, and contributed to Professor Brian Schmidt’s Nobel Prize winning discovery of an accelerating universe.
The Reynolds telescope was destroyed in the 2003 Canberra bushfire.
Heliostat
The heliostat in its dome above the Administrative Building at the Commonwealth Solar Observatory c.1930s. Courtesy of Libb Powell (nee Hogg)
Installed at the observatory in 1931, the heliostat (Sun telescope) was located in the east side dome of the main building. The heliostat, coupled with a cutting edge spectrograph, allowed observers such as Cla Allen to make remarkable studies of the Sun, including a solar atlas.
The heliostat was actively used until the late 1940s when the focus of research shifted from solar (sun) to stellar (stars) work.
Coelostat
A coelostat is a flat mirror which is aligned parallel to the Earth's axis. The Commonwealth Solar Observatory acquired their coelostat from John Franklin-Adams, a British astronomer.
Coelostat offered by Mr. Franklin-Adams in 1910, made by T Cooke and Sons. Courtesy of Academy of Science
In a letter to Dr. Duffield, Franklin-Adams explains that the coelostat had been used for 4 minutes only (during the 1905 solar eclipse) but that he was 'immensely pleased with the running of the instrument'.
Letter from Mr. Franklin-Adams to Dr. Duffield offering a coelostat to the Australian Solar Observatory effort. Courtesy of the Academy of Science
Remnants of the coelostat sit in the eastern dome of the Administration Building, which was affected by the 2003 bushfires.
74-inch telescope
74-inch telescope in its dome, unknown date. Courtesy of Mount Stromlo Observatory
Ordered by Prof. Woolley in 1947 to help the observatory shift from daytime observations of the Sun to night time observations of the stars, the 74-inch telescope was at the time, the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere. It was manufactured in Dublin by Grubb Parsons.
It was shown at the Festival of Britain in 1951 in the 'Dome of Discovery' before being shipped to Australia for its installation at Mount Stromlo.
Maintenance work on the 74-inch telescope. Courtesy of Mount Stromlo Observatory
The research this telescope allowed was formidable.
The 74-inch was finally dwarfed by the 2.3m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, Mount Stromlo Observatory's sister site. The 74-inch telescope was destroyed in the 2003 Canberra bushfire. The burnt out remains of the building can still be seen on the mountain.
50-inch telescope (The Great Melbourne Telescope)
Great Melbourne Telescope at Melbourne Observatory, c. 1875. Courtesy of Museums Victoria
When Melbourne Observatory closed its doors in 1944, the Commonwealth Solar Observatory purchased the Great Melbourne Telescope ensuring its continued use. It had been manufactured in Dublin by Grubb in the 1860s. Its speculum primary mirror was the largest in the world for many decades and solidified the company as the leader in telescope manufacturing.
After purchasing the telescope, the original 48-inch mirror was upgraded to a new 50-inch mirror. The tube at the end of the telescope was also changed from a latice design to a solid design.
Then again, in the 1990s, when it was fitted with two charge-coupled devices to aid in research aimed at locating MACHOs (Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects) to help uncover what dark matter is.
