Royal Observatory Greenwich Drawings and Paintings : Four views of the successive steps of raising into a vertical position the northern support of the South East equatorial

Royal Observatory Greenwich Drawings and Paintings

<p style='text-align: justify;'>A set of four pencil sketches on paper; each is dated. While the artist is not specified, this may be the work Richarda Airy, her sisters, Elizabeth or Caroline Smith, or one of the Airy children, most probably Hubert Airy. The Great Equatorial Telescope [<a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/10181.html'><img title="Link to RMG" alt='RMG icon' class='nmm_icon' src='/images/general/nmm_small.png'/></a>] was installed inside the purpose-built South East Dome in 1859. Both the telescope and its mounting were designed by George Airy. According to a note in the Journal of the Astronomer Royal, the scaffolding was removed on 12 December 1857. The telescope was brought into active use in 1860.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>For a history of the South East or 'Great' Equatorial, see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=1172'>http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=1172</a>. For the South East Dome, see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=919'>http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=919</a>.</p>