City Observatory

The city of Edinburgh Observatory Engl. City Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland.

History

The protruding main building was designed in 1818 by William Henry Playfair and commissioned by the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution.

The operation of the observatory was taken over by the state later, it was used by the University of Edinburgh. So here worked 1834-1844 Thomas James Henderson as Astronomer Royal for Scotland.

1890, the Observatory has been replaced by the larger Royal Observatory in the south of the city, where less light pollution prevailed. It is now run by the local Astro club and is available to the public on Fridays.

Short - observatory

In one corner of the area is the slightly older observatory by Thomas Short, an optician of Leith. He was brother of the famous telescope maker and Edinburgh Royal Fellows James Short and brought its 12-foot reflecting telescope in the basic equipment a. The Classicist building in the form of a fortified tower was built in 1776 by ​​James Craig in the style of Robert Adam. Short financed the construction of a fund of the mathematician Colin Maclaurin and surveyors, who had worked 1726-46 at the University of Edinburgh.

After Shorts death in 1788, the observatory was continued by his family and fell back in 1805 to the city; later, she was briefly as a public observatory and museum in use.

Credentials

55 955 - 3.1836111111111Koordinaten: 55 ° 57 ' 18 "N, 3 ° 11' 1 " W

  • Observatory in the United Kingdom
  • Historic observatory
  • Education and research in Edinburgh
  • Building in Edinburgh
  • Science and research in the UK
  • Category A building in Edinburgh
  • Built in the 1880s
Thomas Henderson (astronomer) James Short (mathematician) James Craig (architect)
191323
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