Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.9077
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    Telescope speculum for Lord Rosse’s 72-inch telescope at Birr Castle, Ireland

    Date
    1861
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 132mm
    width (print): 118mm
    Subject
    Content object
    Description
    Plate 24 figure 1 from the paper "On the construction of specula of six-feet aperture; and a selection from the observations of nebulae made with them", by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, volume 151 (1861) pp.681-746. A view of the speculum on supporting levers supported on a cast iron rail carriage. The carriage is shown on a turntable situated to the north side of the 72-inch reflecting telescope, with the background screened off by a dark cloth. Details include the carriage's lime-boxes. The instrument, the largest reflecting telescope in the world when built, was at Birr Castle, Parsonstown, Ireland. The image is inscribed in pencil, verso "Original which may assist in understanding the reduced copy" and "Lord Rosse's Paper June/61".
    Object history
    This photograph was supplied for reproduction in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > Ireland
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