A VALUABLE GIFT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1262, 18 October 1911, Page 6

A VALUABLE GIFT.

FOR ASTRONOMICAL STUDENTS. The Astronomical Section of tho Wellington Philosophical Society hns lately had fresh impetus given to its encrgios by a valuable gift from Mrs. Parsons, of ]/>wor llutt. As long ago ss 1573 her lnisluiid, the lat« W. F. Parsons, with great enterprise and skill constructed for hira(iclf ft reflecting telescope, and not only did Mr. Parsons construct tho telescopo, but ho hod al?o to mako his oirn tcols for grinding, polishing, and parabolisiug the inm-or. The inslrnment is a reflecting telescope on the Newtonian principle; that is w> f-ay, there in u large mirror at thu lower end of the teltocopc, which collects llio jiffhi from the hravonjy body and reflects it to a small mirror placed diagonally across th«s upper end of Uie tube. This small mirror reflects tho rays in a direction at right anylee to the tuhe, where they ore caught nnd examined by the cyc-picco. The mirror in this tc.lescopo is approximately six inches in diameter, tho length of the tube is sft. 9in. It is mounted on nn equatorial stand, with a simple rack motion, and on clear nights wi-U srive good definition up to 300 diameters. It took Mr. Parsons altogether eighteen months to construct the instrument, hut lit. was able io work at it only in hie spare timo.

Tho Astronomical Section looks forward to much interesting work with this instrument, and it will I* a valuaWc object Icsron t» any students of aHtronomy who mnj feel tempted to follow in Mr. Parsons , !! footsteps. A full -description of the instrument and the steps in its centptruction is to be found in Vol. V of the "Tratifnelions of the New Zealand Institute"