Kurt I am very interested in researching early telescopes and the projects they were used for in Utah in the 1800s, any sources you would suggest I go to Bob Bob Moore Commerce CRG - Salt Lake City office 175 East 400 South, Suite 700 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Direct: 801-303-5418 Main: 801-322-2000 Fax: 801-322-2040 BMoore@commercecrg.com www.commercecrg.com -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+bmoore=commercecrg.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+bmoore=commercecrg.com@mailman.xmission.c om] On Behalf Of Kurt Fisher Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 9:44 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Photos of Pratt's Dollond telescope In my Utah Astro Gallery folder, I have placed some (poorly made) photos of Pratt's 3 1/4 Dollond refractor made on 5/25/2007 in the Salt Lake City Church History Museum: http://www.utahastronomy.com/MeridianHouse I had always thought these Dollond's were alt-az scopes. Apparently, they have an equatorial head. Other related images of interest - An antique dealer's image of an identical, more well perserved Dollond refractor: http://www.trevorphilip.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=4&tabindex=3&objec tid=11845 An Dollond refractor museum picture of a contemporaneous similar model stored in its case: http://www.earlytech.com/common/show_image.phtml?Id=1587009984&Item_Name = Image of the Meridian House from the Utah Historical Quarterly http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/notes/MeridianHouse/img /MeridianHouse.png Image of the Coast Survey Wurdeman portable transit scope (No. 19) installed in Meridian House which included from the J. of Amer. Sci. Instr. The 4 inch Wurdeman transit, a standard Coast Survey instrument used in 1869, is now in the non-displayed collection of the Church History Museum: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/notes/MeridianHouse/img /WilliamWurdemanTransitNo19.png No picture: a Coast Survey standard zenithal telescope temporarily installed and used in the Meridian House in 1869. These had a larger apeture than the 4 inch Wurdeman transit scope. The zenith scope temporarily installed in the Meridian House was used to make over 300 altitude measurements of circumpolar stars during the winter of 1868-1869. Apparently not preserved: The chronograph register that goes with the Wurdeman transit and the telegraphic register control used in the 1869 campaign. Antique dealer's image of Dent Chronometer No. 2974. Pratt's Dent Chronometer, identical to the foregoing image, is No. 2392 and is now in a LDS Church musuem collection. http://www.bottomoftheharbour.com/chronometerdent.html Although we tend to take satellite calibrated watches and computers for granted, in the 1870's, one's nightly observing session apparently started out with observing the transit of reference stars and then resetting one's chronometer. The Pratt Dollond pictures and other collected links are part of a larger ongoing set of notes I am preparing on the Coast Survey Longitudinal Campaign of 1869 and the measurement of the Salt Lake Base Line Meridian in 1896. The SLBM measurement featured the Coast Survey constructing a 56ft long catameran-like shed and dragging it from the Point-of-the-Mountain to North Salt Lake. A drawing of the catameran is reproduced in my Utah Astro folder: http://www.utahastronomy.com/MeridianHouse/1896ShelterSled - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com