Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.17516

    Telescope enclosure

    Date
    1856
    Creator
    Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819 - 1900, British) , Astronomer
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Subject
    Description
    Stereoscopic view of a Sheepshank telescope, positioned within an enclosure of crates, pointing away from the camera. A small polarimeter is visible in the foreground, and a brick wall and mountain are visible in the background.

    Inscribed in ink on page underneath the photograph: 'The interior of the telescope enclosure at Guajara showing the Sheepshank's equatorial, and Airy's polarimeter.'

    'Airy' likely refers to George Biddell Airy (1801- 1892), the Astronomer Royal between 1835 and 1881, who had expressed his support of Smyth's expedition. Guajara was the first stop made by Smyth's party on their ascent to the peak of Tenerife, or Mount Teide.

    From the 'Tenerife Papers of Charles Piazzi Smyth', a scrapbook of watercolours and stereographs from his 1856 astronomical expedition to this volcanic mountain range in Tenerife.

    Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) Italian Astronomer was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857, but resigned in 1874.
    Object history
    Donated to the Royal Society by Charles Piazzi Smyth, 1857.
    Associated place
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