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Science and Technology Facilities Council
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From 1 November 2016 Dr. Brian Bowsher has replaced John Womersley as the CEO of STFC. John Womersley has now moved on to the European Spallation Source as the new Director General. ”· Universities, STFC support university-based research, innovation and skills development in particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astronomy. · Scientific Facilities, They provide access to world-leading, large-scale facilities across a range of physical and life sciences, enabling research, innovation, the Science and Technology Facilities Council is one of Europes largest multidisciplinary research organisations supporting scientists and engineers world-wide. Through research fellowships and grants, it is responsible for funding research in UK universities, in the fields of astronomy, particle physics, nuclear physics, STFC operates its own world-class, large-scale research facilities and provides strategic advice to the UK government on their development. It manages international research projects in support of a broad cross-section of the UK research community and directs, coordinates and funds research, education and it is a partner in the UK Space Agency providing about 40% of the UK governments expenditure in space science and technology. ALICE, EMMA, CLARA and VELA at Daresbury Laboratory, the LHC Computing Grid through its funding of the GridPP project Boulby underground laboratories Advanced LIGO STFC’s budget is allocated annually by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. For 2015-16 STFC’s budget allocation was £529 million, STFC is active in its responsibility for knowledge exchange from government funded civil science into UKPLC. As such, many technologies are licensed to UK companies and spin-out companies created including, L3 Technology, Microvisk, Orbital Optics Ltd, Oxsensis, PETRRA, Quantum Detectors, ThruVision. However knowledge exchange activities are not purely limited to commercialization of technologies, coseners House, a conference centre owned by STFC in Abingdon JISCMail National Astronomy Week Official website
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Blackford Hill
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Blackford Hill 164 metres is a hill in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. It is in the area of Blackford, between Morningside, and the Braid Hills, together with the Hermitage of Braid, it comprises the 60.3 hectares Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill Local Nature Reserve, within which lies Hermitage House. There is an ancient hill fort on the area of the hill. Blackford Hill was bought by the Edinburgh Corporation in 1884, the gift allowed the Hermitage to be used as a Public Park or Recreation Ground for the benefit of the citizens. The City of Edinburgh Council retains ownership of the park and is responsible for its maintenance. This is done primarily through the service, with the assistance of other council teams such as Task Force. The hill has views over Edinburgh to the north. It is popular with walkers, as it has well established paths, as well as runners. There is a range of flora and fauna within a green belt area of Edinburgh. Around half of the area is unimproved grassland, the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh is located near the summit. The hilltop also features a radio transmitter and a meteorological station. Craigmillar Park golf course is situated to the east of Blackford Hill, near the observatory, Midmar paddock is adjacent to the hill. Owned by the A. J. Laing Trust proposals to develop it have attracted controversy. There are around 12 hectares of woodland on the hill. Blackford Hill is formed from Lower Devonian volcanic rocks, lying between Upper Devonian sandstone, the northernmost extent of those found in the Pentland Hills to the South. Geologically the hill is different from the Carboniferous volcanic plugs and intrusions which form the remainder of Edinburghs hills and it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Braid Burn is the principle watercourse, flowing for some 3 kilometres through the nature reserve and it is a small river, typically around 5 metres wide by 20 centimetres deep, although subject to significant variation. At this location it is half way along its 32 kilometres course from a spring in the Pentland Hills
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Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
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Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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Cassegrain reflector
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The Cassegrain reflector is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror, often used in optical telescopes and radio antennas. Alternatively, as in radio telescopes, the final focus may be in front of the primary. In an asymmetrical Cassegrain, the mirror may be tilted to avoid obscuration of the primary or to avoid the need for a hole in the primary mirror, the classic Cassegrain configuration uses a parabolic reflector as the primary while the secondary mirror is hyperbolic. Modern variants often have a primary for increased performance, or the primary and/or secondary are spherical or elliptical for ease of manufacturing. The Cassegrain reflector is named after a published reflecting telescope design that appeared in the April 25,1672 Journal des sçavans which has been attributed to Laurent Cassegrain. Similar designs using convex secondaries have been found in the Bonaventura Cavalieris 1632 writings describing burning mirrors, james Gregorys 1662 attempts to create a reflecting telescope included a Cassegrain configuration, judging by a convex secondary mirror found among his experiments. The Cassegrain design is used in catadioptric systems. The Classic Cassegrain has a primary mirror, and a hyperbolic secondary mirror that reflects the light back down through a hole in the primary. Folding the optics makes this a compact design, on smaller telescopes, and camera lenses, the secondary is often mounted on an optically flat, optically clear glass plate that closes the telescope tube. This support eliminates the diffraction effects caused by a straight-vaned support spider. The closed tube stays clean, and the primary is protected and it makes use of the special properties of parabolic and hyperbolic reflectors. A concave parabolic reflector will reflect all incoming light rays parallel to its axis of symmetry to a single point, a convex hyperbolic reflector has two foci and will reflect all light rays directed at one of its two foci towards its other focus. The parabolic mirror reflects parallel light rays entering the telescope to its focus, the hyperbolic mirror then reflects those light rays to its other focus, where the image is observed. The Ritchey-Chrétien is a specialized Cassegrain reflector which has two hyperbolic mirrors and it is free of coma and spherical aberration at a flat focal plane, making it well suited for wide field and photographic observations. It was invented by George Willis Ritchey and Henri Chrétien in the early 1910s and this design is very common in large professional research telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Keck Telescopes and VLT telescope, it is also found in high-grade amateur telescopes. Ingalls, the astronomy editor at the time. It uses a concave primary mirror and a convex spherical secondary. While this system is easier to polish than a classic Cassegrain or Ritchey-Chretien system, because this is less noticeable at longer focal ratios, Dall-Kirkhams are seldom faster than f/15
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Schmidt camera
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A Schmidt camera, also referred to as the Schmidt telescope, is a catadioptric astrophotographic telescope designed to provide wide fields of view with limited aberrations. The design was invented by Bernhard Schmidt in 1930, a recent example is the Kepler spacecraft exoplanet finder. Other related designs are the Wright Camera and Lurie–Houghton telescope, the Schmidt camera was invented by German-Estonian optician Bernhard Schmidt in 1930. Its optical components are an easy-to-make spherical primary mirror, and an aspherical correcting lens, known as a Schmidt corrector plate, the film or other detector is placed inside the camera, at the prime focus. The design is noted for allowing very fast focal ratios, while controlling coma, Schmidt cameras have very strongly curved focal planes, thus requiring that the film, plate, or other detector be correspondingly curved. A field flattener, in its simplest form a lens in front of the film plate or detector, is sometimes used. Since the corrector plate is at the center of curvature of the mirror in this design the tube length can be very long for a wide-field telescope. Because of its field of view, the Schmidt camera is typically used as a survey instrument. These include astronomical surveys, comet and asteroid searches, and nova patrols, in addition, Schmidt cameras and derivative designs are frequently used for tracking artificial earth satellites. The first relatively large Schmidt telescopes were built at Hamburg Observatory, between 1945 and 1980, about 8 more large Schmidt telescopes were built around the world. One particularly famous and productive Schmidt camera is the Oschin Schmidt Telescope at Palomar Observatory and this instrument was used in the National Geographic Society - Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, the POSS-II survey, the Palomar-Leiden Surveys, and other projects. The technical improvements developed during this survey encouraged the development of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, the telescope used in the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search is also a Schmidt camera. The Schmidt telescope of the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory is the largest Schmidt camera of the world, a Schmidt telescope was at the heart of the Hipparcos satellite from the European Space Agency. This was used in the Hipparcos Survey which mapped the distances of more than a million stars with unprecedented accuracy - this included 99% of all stars up to magnitude 11. The spherical mirror used in this telescope was extremely accurate, if scaled up to the size of the Atlantic Ocean, the Kepler photometer, mounted on the Kepler probe, and orbiting since March 2009, is the largest Schmidt camera launched into space. Starting in the early 1970s, Celestron marketed an 8-inch Schmidt Camera, the camera was focused in the factory and was made of materials with low expansion coefficients so it would never need to be focused in the field. Early models required the photographer to cut and develop individual frames of 35 mm film as the holder could only hold one frame of film. About 300 Celestron Schmidt Cameras were produced, the Schmidt system was popular, used in reverse, for television projection systems
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Astronomy
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Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets, while the phenomena include supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, more generally, all astronomical phenomena that originate outside Earths atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject, physical cosmology, is concerned with the study of the Universe as a whole, Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, during the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results. Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can play an active role, especially in the discovery. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, Astronomy means law of the stars. Astronomy should not be confused with astrology, the system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects. Although the two share a common origin, they are now entirely distinct. Generally, either the term astronomy or astrophysics may be used to refer to this subject, however, since most modern astronomical research deals with subjects related to physics, modern astronomy could actually be called astrophysics. Few fields, such as astrometry, are purely astronomy rather than also astrophysics, some titles of the leading scientific journals in this field includeThe Astronomical Journal, The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy and Astrophysics. In early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye, in some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly had some astronomical purpose. Before tools such as the telescope were invented, early study of the stars was conducted using the naked eye, most of early astronomy actually consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon, the Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the model of the Universe, or the Ptolemaic system. The Babylonians discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a cycle known as a saros
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UK Astronomy Technology Centre
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The UK Astronomy Technology Centre is based at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The UK ATC designs, builds, develops, tests and manages major instrumentation projects in support of UK and it has design offices, workshops and test facilities for both ground- and space-based instruments, including a suite of test labs capable of handling the largest current and projected instruments. The UK ATC was formed in 1998 in Edinburgh from the departments of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. Its initial customers were the then new Gemini Observatory, the former ROE observatories in Hawaii, and a former RGO observatory, more recently, collaboration with the European Southern Observatory and for the James Webb Space Telescope have gained importance. Major projects and collaborations include, Several first-generation instruments for the Gemini Observatory, a mid-infrared spectrometer for the UKIRT and the Gemini Observatory. Data acquisition and reduction software for the UKIRT and the JCMT, the Wide Field Infrared Camera for the UKIRT. The Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver of the Herschel Space Observatory, the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for UK universities and ESO. A high-sensitivity, wide-field, sub-millimetre camera for the JCMT, the Mid-Infrared Instrument for the JWST. Observing tool software for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, design studies for ESOs European Extremely Large Telescope. An infrared K-band multi-object spectrometer for ESOs Very Large Telescope, the European Union funded Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy. Royal Observatory Edinburgh UK ATC ATC Innovations OPTICON
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University of Edinburgh
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The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582, is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotlands ancient universities. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city of Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh was ranked 17th and 21st in the world by the 2014–15 and 2015-16 QS rankings. It is now ranked 19th in the according to 2016-17 QS Rankings. It is ranked 16th in the world in arts and humanities by the 2015–16 Times Higher Education Ranking and it is ranked the 23rd most employable university in the world by the 2015 Global Employability University Ranking. It is ranked as the 6th best university in Europe by the U. S. News Best Global Universities Ranking and it is a member of both the Russell Group, and the League of European Research Universities, a consortium of 21 research universities in Europe. It has the third largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, after the universities of Cambridge and it continues to have links to the British Royal Family, having had the Duke of Edinburgh as its Chancellor from 1953 to 2010 and Princess Anne since 2011. Edinburgh receives approximately 50,000 applications every year, making it the fourth most popular university in the UK by volume of applicants, after St Andrews, it is the most difficult university to gain admission into in Scotland, and 9th overall in the UK. This was a move at the time, as most universities were established through Papal bulls. Established as the Tounis College, it opened its doors to students in October 1583, instruction began under the charge of another St Andrews graduate Robert Rollock. It was the fourth Scottish university in a period when the more populous. It was renamed King Jamess College in 1617, by the 18th century, the university was a leading centre of the Scottish Enlightenment. The universitys first custom-built building was the Old College, now Edinburgh Law School and its first forte in teaching was anatomy and the developing science of surgery, from which it expanded into many other subjects. From the basement of a nearby house ran the anatomy tunnel corridor and it went under what was then North College Street, and under the university buildings until it reached the universitys anatomy lecture theatre, delivering bodies for dissection. It was from this tunnel the body of William Burke was taken after he had been hanged, towards the end of the 19th century, Old College was becoming overcrowded and Robert Rowand Anderson was commissioned to design new Medical School premises in 1875. The medical school was more or less built to his design and was completed by the addition of the McEwan Hall in the 1880s. The building now known as New College was originally built as a Free Church college in the 1840s and has been the home of divinity at the university since the 1920s. The two oldest schools – law and divinity – are both well-esteemed, with law being based in Old College and divinity in New College on the Mound and they are also represented by the Edinburgh University Sports Union which was founded in 1866. The medical school is renowned throughout the world and it was widely considered the best medical school in the English-speaking world throughout the 18th century and first half of the 19th century
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Observatory
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An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed, historically, observatories were as simple as containing an astronomical sextant or Stonehenge. Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories, space based, airborne, ground based, ground-based observatories, located on the surface of Earth, are used to make observations in the radio and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Most optical telescopes are housed within a dome or similar structure, Telescope domes have a slit or other opening in the roof that can be opened during observing, and closed when the telescope is not in use. In most cases, the upper portion of the telescope dome can be rotated to allow the instrument to observe different sections of the night sky. Radio telescopes usually do not have domes, for optical telescopes, most ground-based observatories are located far from major centers of population, to avoid the effects of light pollution. The ideal locations for modern observatories are sites that have dark skies, a percentage of clear nights per year, dry air. At high elevations, the Earths atmosphere is thinner, thereby minimizing the effects of atmospheric turbulence, sites that meet the above criteria for modern observatories include the southwestern United States, Hawaii, Canary Islands, the Andes, and high mountains in Mexico such as Sierra Negra. Major optical observatories include Mauna Kea Observatory and Kitt Peak National Observatory in the USA, Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Spain, and Paranal Observatory in Chile. Specific research study performed in 2009 shows that the best possible location for ground-based observatory on Earth is Ridge A — a place in the part of Eastern Antarctica. This location provides the least atmospheric disturbances and best visibility, beginning in 1930s, radio telescopes have been built for use in the field of radio astronomy to observe the Universe in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Since the mid-20th century, a number of observatories have been constructed at very high altitudes, above 4. The largest and most notable of these is the Mauna Kea Observatory, the Chacaltaya Astrophysical Observatory in Bolivia, at 5,230 m, was the worlds highest permanent astronomical observatory from the time of its construction during the 1940s until 2009. It has now surpassed by the new University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory. As a result, the resolution of space telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope is often much smaller than a ground-based telescope with a similar aperture. However, all these advantages do come with a price, Space telescopes are much more expensive to build than ground-based telescopes. Due to their location, space telescopes are also difficult to maintain. The Hubble Space Telescope was serviced by the Space Shuttle while many other space telescopes cannot be serviced at all, Airborne observatories have the advantage of height over ground installations, putting them above most of the Earths atmosphere
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James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford
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James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Balcarres, FRS, FRAS was a British astronomer, politician, bibliophile and philatelist. A member of the Royal Society, Crawford was elected president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1878, the Earl was the son of Alexander the 25th Earl and his wife Margaret, born at St Germain in France. He was asthmatic and spent considerable periods at sea studying the more portable sections of the library which had been established by his father. Sir Ronald Charles Lindsay, married to Martha Cameron, daughter of American politician J. Donald Cameron, lionel Lindsay, married Kathleen Kennedy, daughter of Sir John Gordon Kennedy and Evelyn Adela Bootle-Wilbraham, had issue Crawford was interested in astronomy from an early age. Along with his father, he built up an observatory at Dun Echt. He employed David Gill to equip the observatory, using the best available technology, among his achievements, Gill later made the first photograph of the Great Comet of 1882, pioneering astrophotography and the mapping of the heavens. Crawford mounted expeditions to Cadiz in 1870, to observe the eclipse of the sun, India in 1871, to observe the eclipse of the sun, on the latter two expeditions Crawford employed London photographer Henry Davis, who in 1876 was appointed Crawfords personal librarian. Thanks to this donation, the new Royal Observatory, Edinburgh was opened on Blackford Hill in 1896, Alexander William Lindsay had been a book collector from his schooldays and so he continued. In 1861 he wrote to his son James a letter which describes his vision of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana, by now it was 250 pages long and under the name of the Library Report it continued to be added to during their lifetimes. He based his plan on the Manuel of J. -Ch, the bulk of the library was kept at Haigh Hall in Lancashire with a part at Balcarres. The Earl issued a catalogue of the library in 1910, Catalogue of the Printed Books Preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan,4 vols. folio, Aberdeen University Press. Companion volumes to the record the royal proclamations and philatelic literature. The cataloguing and organisation of the library was a task for a team of librarians led by J. P. Edmond. The manuscript collections were sold in 1901 to Enriqueta Augustina Rylands for the John Rylands Library, other parts of the collections have since been donated to or deposited in national or university libraries, including the National Library of Scotland. In 1946 the deposited collections were distributed to the British Museum, Cambridge University Library, changes to these locations were made by later Earls of Crawford, apart from the Crawford family muniments those at the John Rylands Library were removed in 1988. Crawfords philatelic interests grew out of his work in extending the Lindsay familys library and he purchased a large collection of philatelic literature formed by John K. Tiffany of St. Louis, the first president of the American Philatelic Society. Tiffanys was already the worlds largest and most complete collection of philatelic literature, supplemented by purchases throughout Europe, eventually Crawfords collection was given to the Philatelic Section of the British Museum, in London. Crawford formed notable collections of the stamps of the Italian States, the Crawford Medal was established by the Royal Philatelic Society London in Crawfords honour for distinguished contributions to philately
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Calton Hill
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Calton Hill, is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the citys UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are used in photographs. In 1456, James II granted land to Edinburgh by charter wherein Calton Hill is referred to as Cragingalt, the name may have derived from Old Welsh or Old English meaning the place of the groves. The name Caldtoun remained general until about 1700, the names Calton and this was part of his policy of military preparedness that saw the Act of 1457 banning golf and football and ordering archery practice every Sunday. This natural amphitheatre was used for open-air theatre and saw performances of the early Scots play Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis by Sir David Lyndsay. In May 1518 the Carmelite Friars, were granted lands by charter from the city at Greenside, monasteries were suppressed following the Scottish Reformation of 1560, and this stood empty before conversion in 1591 into a hospital for lepers, founded by John Robertson, a city merchant. The monastery would appear to have located at the north-east end of Greenside Row. Ten skeletons found in July 2009 during roadworks to create a new tramway in Leith Walk are believed to have connected with the hospital. The Calton area was owned by the Logan family of Restalrig, the lands of Restalrig and Calton, otherwise known as Easter and Wester Restalrig, passed to the Elphinstone family. Sir James Elphinstone was made Lord Balmerino in 1604 and in 1673 the lands of Restalrig, in 1725, Calton was disjoined and sold to the royal burgh of Edinburgh. Calton remained a burgh of barony until it was incorporated into Edinburgh by the Municipality Extension Act of 1856. In 1631, the then Lord Balmerino granted a charter to The Society of the Incorporated Trades of Calton forming a society or corporation and this also gave the Society the exclusive right to trade within Calton and the right to tax others who wished to do so. This lack of restrictive practices allowed a thriving trade to develop, in the village, the street was variously known as St. Ninians Row or Low Calton. Many of the old buildings here were demolished at the time of the Waterloo Place and Regent Bridge development, the remaining old village houses of the Low Calton were removed in the 1970s. Calton was in South Leith Parish and Calton people went to church in Leith. The churchyard there was situated for burials from Calton and, in 1718. This became known as Old Calton Burial Ground, permission was granted for an access road, originally known as High Calton and now the street called Calton Hill, up the steep hill from the village to the burial ground. The group of 1760s houses near the top of this street are all that remain of the old village, the Old Calton Burial Ground was the first substantial development on Calton Hill and lies on the south-western side of the hill
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City Observatory
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The City Observatory is an astronomical observatory on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is also known as the Calton Hill Observatory, the site is enclosed by a boundary wall with a monument to John Playfair, president of the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution, in the southeast corner. The oldest part is the Gothic Tower in the southwest corner, facing Princes Street and it is also known as Observatory House, the Old Observatory, or after its designer James Craig House. The central building with the appearance of a Greek temple is the Playfair Building and this houses the 6-inch refractor in its dome and the 6. 4-inch transit telescope in its eastern wing. The largest dome of the site is the City Dome in the northeast corner, during the early 20th century this contained a 22-inch refractor. In 1776 Thomas Short returned to Edinburgh, bringing him a 12-foot reflecting telescope made by his late brother James Short. He intended to open a public observatory on Calton Hill as a commercial enterprise, however, in 1736 Colin Maclaurin, professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, had collected funds for a university observatory. Due to the Porteous Riots and the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 the funds were left unused and these were made available to build Shorts observatory, and the City of Edinburgh provided a plot of land on Calton Hill. The observatory was to be open to university students, James Craig designed the observatory, which, under Robert Adams influence, was to look like a fortification with a wall and Gothic towers at its corners. The city controlled the project, but the money ran out after only the first of the towers was built. Short moved into this as residence and ran the observatory until his death in 1788, an actual observatory, smaller than originally planned, was also built where the Playfair Building is now. After Shorts death the observatory was kept going by his family for a while, then leased to opticians, the site reverted to the city. Shorts daughter Maria Theresa Short was to return to Edinburgh in 1827 and she ran a second – a popular and commercial rather than scientific – observatory elsewhere on Calton Hill. In 1850 this was removed and she moved to Castle Hill, in 1812 the observatory was handed over to the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution, which opened its popular observatory in the Gothic Tower. In 1818 work began on the Playfair Building, designed by William Henry Playfair this was to become the scientific observatory of the Institution. Following a loyal address to George IV in 1822 this became the Royal Observatory, again the funds proved insufficient, so that the purchase of instruments and the employment of an observer depended on funding from the Government. After much delay the instrumentation was completed in 1831 with delivery of the transit telescope, fraunhofer had made the lens, but after his death it fell to Repsold - and after his death to Repsolds son - to complete and install the instrument. In 1834 Thomas Henderson took up the position of observer and this was now the post of Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Regius Professor of Astronomy in the University of Edinburgh
16.
George III of the United Kingdom
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He was concurrently Duke and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire until his promotion to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of Britains American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence, further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In the later part of his life, George III had recurrent, although it has since been suggested that he had the blood disease porphyria, the cause of his illness remains unknown. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, on George IIIs death, the Prince Regent succeeded his father as George IV. Historical analysis of George IIIs life has gone through a kaleidoscope of changing views that have depended heavily on the prejudices of his biographers and the sources available to them. Until it was reassessed in the half of the 20th century, his reputation in the United States was one of a tyrant. George was born in London at Norfolk House and he was the grandson of King George II, and the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. As Prince George was born two months prematurely and he was unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker. One month later, he was baptised at Norfolk House. His godparents were the King of Sweden, his uncle the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, George grew into a healthy but reserved and shy child. The family moved to Leicester Square, where George and his younger brother Prince Edward, Duke of York, Family letters show that he could read and write in both English and German, as well as comment on political events of the time, by the age of eight. He was the first British monarch to study science systematically and his religious education was wholly Anglican. At age 10 George took part in a production of Joseph Addisons play Cato and said in the new prologue, What. It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, historian Romney Sedgwick argued that these lines appear to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated. Georges grandfather, King George II, disliked the Prince of Wales, however, in 1751 the Prince of Wales died unexpectedly from a lung injury, and George became heir apparent to the throne. He inherited one of his fathers titles and became the Duke of Edinburgh, now more interested in his grandson, three weeks later the King created George Prince of Wales. Georges mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, preferred to keep George at home where she could imbue him with her moral values
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Regius Professor
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A Regius professor is a university professor with royal patronage or appointment. They are a feature of academia in the British Isles. The first Regius professorship was in the field of medicine, Regius chairs have since been instituted in various universities, in disciplines judged to be fundamental and for which there is a continuing and significant need. This royal imprimatur, and the rarity of these professorships, means a Regius chair is prestigious. Regius professors are traditionally addressed as Regius and not Professor, glasgow University currently has the highest number of extant Regius chairs, at thirteen. Traditionally, Regius chairs only existed in the ancient universities of the British Isles, in October 2012 it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II would create up to six new Regius professorships, to be announced in early 2013, to mark her Diamond Jubilee. In January 2013 the full list was announced, comprising twelve new chairs, probably the largest number ever created in one year, in July 2015 it was announced that further Regius professorships would be created to mark the Queens 90th birthday
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Robert Blair (astronomer)
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Prof Robert Blair FRSE was a Scottish astronomer. He was born in Garvald, East Lothian, the son of Rev Archibald Blair, in 1773 he was apprenticed to Dr Francis Balfour, a naval surgeon, and served in the Royal Navy in the West Indies. On return to Scotland he studied medicine at Edinburgh University and qualified as a doctor in 1785, Robert Blair was the first Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. He invented the aplanatic lens and also coined this term and this was a significant step in reducing the aberration in optical systems. He also experimented with lenses, holding different solutions. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1786 and he died in Westlock, Berwickshire on 22 December 1828. Jean Eisenstaedt, Light and relativity, a previously Unknown Eighteenth-Century Manuscript by Robert Blair, jean Eisenstaedt, Avant Einstein Relativité, lumière, gravitation, Paris, Seuil
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Edinburgh Astronomical Institution
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The Edinburgh Astronomical Institution was founded in 1811 and wound up in 1847. It was instrumental in the foundation of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh in 1822, the first president of the Institution was John Playfair, professor of natural philosophy. The members were landed gentry, advocates, bankers, academics, clergy. The City of Edinburgh provided the abandoned observatory on Calton Hill, another observatory building was demolished and in 1818 work started on its replacement, which is now known as the Playfair Building. The Institutions funds were exhausted before instruments could be purchased for the new scientific observatory and this would be a recurring problem until the Institutions eventual demise in 1847. In 1822 it presented an address to George IV and the new observatory was granted the title of Royal Observatory. With Government grants and after much delay in procuring instruments it was only in 1834 that Thomas Henderson was appointed the first observer and this was now the Government-funded position of Astronomer Royal for Scotland. The incumbent would also be Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, Henderson died in 1844 and in 1846 Charles Piazzi Smyth was appointed as his successor. Due to the finances of the Institution it was forced to hand over its property to the Government in 1847. The Royal Observatory continued on Calton Hill, after Piazzi Smyths resignation in 1888 it moved in 1896 to its present site on Blackford Hill. Royal Observatory, Edinburgh City Observatory Gavine, D, the story of astronomy in Edinburgh from its beginnings until 1975
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John Playfair
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John Playfair FRSE, FRS was a Scottish scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is perhaps best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth and it was through this book that Huttons principle of uniformitarianism, later taken up by Charles Lyell, first reached a wide audience. Playfairs textbook Elements of Geometry made an expression of Euclids parallel postulate known now as Playfairs axiom. Born at Benvie, near Dundee, where his father, Rev James Playfair, was a kirk minister, Playfair was educated at home until the age of fourteen, when he entered the University of St Andrews. In 1766, when only eighteen, he was a candidate for the chair of mathematics in Marischal College, Playfair continued, however, his mathematical and physical studies, and in 1782 he resigned his charge to become the tutor of Ferguson of Raith. By this arrangement, Playfair was able to be frequently in Edinburgh and to cultivate the literary, in particular, he attended the natural history course of John Walker. Through Nevil Maskelyne, whose acquaintance he had first made in the course of the celebrated Schiehallion experiments in 1774, in 1785 when Dugald Stewart succeeded Ferguson in the Edinburgh chair of moral philosophy, Playfair succeeded the former in that of mathematics. In 1795 Playfair published an alternative, more stringent formulation of Euclids parallel postulate, although the axiom bears Playfairs name, he did not create it, but credited others, in particular William Ludlam, with its prior use. In 1802, Playfair published his celebrated volume entitled Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, the influence exerted by James Hutton on the development of geology is thought to be largely due to its publication. In 1805 Playfair exchanged the chair of mathematics for that of philosophy in succession to John Robison. Playfair was an opponent of Gottfried Leibnizs vis viva principle, a version of the conservation of energy. In 1808, he launched an attack on John Smeaton and William Hyde Wollastons work championing the theory, in 1808 he also published a review of Laplaces Traité de Mécanique Celeste. Johns brothers were architect James Playfair, solicitor Robert Playfair and engineer William Playfair and his nephew, William Henry Playfair was an eminent architect in Scotland. Although an eminent man, Playfair was buried in a grave in Old Calton Burial Ground. His, and his brother, Jamess graves were marked by a plaque unveiled in 2011 following a local campaign, the monument to his memory by William Henry Playfair, on Calton Hill, is visible from the spot. In later life he admired and proposed to the wealthy widow Jane Apreece and she turned him down and married the younger and more famous Sir Humphry Davy. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellow of the Royal Society of London,1807 Craters on Mars, the mineral playfairite was named in his honour. A four-volume collected edition of Playfairs works, with a memoir by James G. Playfair and his lives of Matthew Stewart, Hutton, and Robison, many of his reviews, and above all his Dissertation are of the utmost value
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William Henry Playfair
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William Henry Playfair FRSE was one of the greatest Scottish architects of the 19th century, designer of many of Edinburghs neo-classical landmarks in the New Town. He was born on 15 July 1790 in Russell Square, London, to James Playfair, Playfairs father was also an architect, and his uncles were John Playfair, the scientist, and William Playfair, an economist and pioneer of information graphics. Two of his finest works are the buildings of the National Gallery of Scotland. The Playfair Project completed in 2004 joined the two buildings with an underground link. In the 1830s Playfair is listed as living at 17 Great Stuart Street on the prestigious Moray Estate in Edinburghs west end, Playfair joined the Free Church following the Disruption of 1843, losing his right to burial in the parish churchyard. Playfair took David Cousin under his wing and was responsible for the part of his training. 1817 Appointed architect to design work on the Old College, University of Edinburgh. The building was completed around 1831,1818 Commissioned by the will of the late Captain John McNabb to design the main building of Dollar Academy, a fitting structure with a Doric facade, which is now named after him. However, due to lack of investment it was never finished, adjacent to The Royal Scottish Academy. 1851 Donaldsons College, Edinburgh 1852 Dunstane House – now a Hotel in west of Edinburgh 1859 National Gallery of Scotland opened to the two years after Playfairs death. Parks & Gardens, UK Playfair, William Henry, Dictionary of Scottish Architects Dictionary of Scottish Architects- William Henry Playfair Gazetteer for Scotland Details William Henry Playfairs buildings in Edinburgh Portrait
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George IV of the United Kingdom
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George IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover following the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his fathers mental illness. George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era and he was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace and he even forbade Caroline to attend his coronation and asked the government to introduce the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in a desperate, unsuccessful attempt to divorce her. For most of Georges regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister and his ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible. At all times he was much under the influence of favourites, taxpayers were angry at his wasteful spending at a time when Britons were fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. He did not provide leadership in time of crisis, nor act as a role model for his people. Liverpools government presided over Britains ultimate victory, negotiated the peace settlement, after Liverpools retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic emancipation despite opposing it. His only child, Princess Charlotte, died before him in 1817 and so he was succeeded by his younger brother, George was born at St Jamess Palace, London, on 12 August 1762, the first child of King George III of the United Kingdom and Queen Charlotte. As the eldest son of a British sovereign, he automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth, he was created Prince of Wales, on 18 September of the same year, he was baptised by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Duke of Cumberland, George was a talented student, and quickly learned to speak French, German and Italian, in addition to his native English. He was a witty conversationalist, drunk or sober, and showed good, the Prince of Wales turned 21 in 1783, and obtained a grant of £60,000 from Parliament and an annual income of £50,000 from his father. It was far too little for his needs – the stables alone cost £31,000 a year and he then established his residence in Carlton House, where he lived a profligate life. Animosity developed between the prince and his father, who desired more frugal behaviour on the part of the heir apparent, the King, a political conservative, was also alienated by the princes adherence to Charles James Fox and other radically inclined politicians. Soon after he reached the age of 21, the prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert and she was a commoner, six years his elder, twice widowed, and a Roman Catholic. Despite her complete unsuitability, the prince was determined to marry her, nevertheless, the couple went through a marriage ceremony on 15 December 1785 at her house in Park Street, Mayfair. Legally the union was void, as the Kings consent was not granted, however, Fitzherbert believed that she was the princes canonical and true wife, holding the law of the Church to be superior to the law of the State. For political reasons, the union remained secret and Fitzherbert promised not to reveal it, the prince was plunged into debt by his exorbitant lifestyle
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Thomas Henderson (astronomer)
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Born in Dundee, he was educated at the High School of Dundee, after which he trained as a lawyer, working his way up through the profession as an assistant to a variety of nobles. Young helped the young Henderson enter the world of astronomical science. Henderson was passed over for that position, but the recommendation was enough to get him a position at the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. There he made a number of stellar observations between April 1832 and May 1833, including those for which he is remembered today. The 1830s version of the race was to be the first person to measure the distance to a star using parallax. Henderson was thus in a position to be this person.25 light years. This figure is accurate, being 25. 6% too small. Henderson did not immediately publish his results, however, and eventually he was beaten to the punch by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, Henderson published his results in 1839, but was relegated to second place because of his lack of confidence. He later published confirming observations by Thomas Maclear, Alpha Centauri remained the nearest known star until the discovery of Proxima Centauri in 1915 by Robert T. A. Innes. In the meantime, his measurement work at the Cape had led him to be appointed the first Astronomer Royal for Scotland in 1834, the vacant chair of astronomy at the University of Edinburgh was given to him on the advice of Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. From 1834 he worked at the City Observatory in Edinburgh until his death, in April,1840 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Henderson became a member or fellow of several distinguished societies, including the Royal Astronomical Society and he married Alexander Adies daughter Janet Mary Adie in 1836 and had one daughter, Janet Mary Jane Henderson. He died at home 1 Hillside Crescent in Edinburgh on 23 November 1844 and is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in the grave of Alexander Adie, hendersons name is absent from the monument. The grave lies in the south-west of the churchyard, just north-east of the Adam mausoleum, the Parallax of Alpha Centauri, deduced from Mr Maclears observations at the Cape of Goof Hope, in the years 1839 and 1840. Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, on the Parallax of Alpha Centauri. Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, Astronomical Society of Edinburgh - journal 38
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Glossary of nautical terms
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This is a partial glossary of nautical terms, some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. See also Wiktionarys nautical terms, Category, Nautical terms, See the Further reading section for additional words and references. A & AS Alterations and additions to the structure, rigging, abaft Toward the stern, relative to some object. Abaft the beam Further aft than the beam, a bearing of greater than 90 degrees from the bow. That would describe an object lying 22.5 degrees toward the rear of the ship, as measured clockwise from a line from the right side, center, of the ship. An imperative to leave the vessel immediately, usually in the face of some imminent overwhelming danger and it is an order issued by the Master or a delegated person in command. Abeam On the beam, a bearing at right angles to the ships keel. A merchant seaman qualified to perform all duties, or a junior rank in some navies. Aboard On or in a vessel, about To go about is to change the course of a ship by tacking. Ready about, or boutship, is the order to prepare for tacking, above board On or above the deck, in plain view, not hiding anything. Pirates would secret their crews below decks, thereby creating the impression that an encounter with another ship was a casual matter of chance. Above-water hull The hull section of a vessel above the waterline, absentee pennant Special pennant flown to indicate absence of commanding officer, admiral, his chief of staff, or officer whose flag is flying. Absolute bearing The bearing of an object in relation to north, either true bearing, using the geographical or true north, or magnetic bearing, using magnetic north. See also bearing and relative bearing, accommodation ladder A portable flight of steps down a ships side. Accommodation ship A ship or hulk used as housing, generally there is a lack of quarters available ashore. An operational ship can be used, but more commonly a hulk modified for accommodation is used, Act of Pardon or Act of Grace A letter from a state or power authorising action by a privateer. Admiral Senior naval officer of Flag rank, in ascending order of seniority, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral and Admiral of the Fleet. A high naval authority in charge of a states Navy or a territorial component
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Charles Piazzi Smyth
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Charles Piazzi Smyth was born in Naples, Italy, to Captain William Henry Smyth and his wife Annarella. He was called Piazzi after his godfather, the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi and his father subsequently settled at Bedford and equipped there an observatory, at which Piazzi Smyth received his first lessons in astronomy. In 1846 he was appointed Astronomer Royal for Scotland, based at the Calton Hill Observatory in Edinburgh, shortly after his appointment, the observatory was placed under the control of Her Majestys Treasury and suffered from a long series of under-funding. Because of this, most of his work in astronomy was done elsewhere. Here he completed the reduction, and continued the series, of the observations made by his predecessor, in 1853, Smyth was responsible for installing the time ball on top of Nelsons Monument in Edinburgh to give a time signal to the ships at Edinburghs port of Leith. By 1861, this signal was augmented by the One OClock Gun at Edinburgh Castle. In 1704 Isaac Newton wrote in his book Opticks Book 1, cannot be so formed as to take away that confusion of the Rays which arises from the Tremors of the Atmosphere. The only Remedy is a most serene and quiet Air, such as may perhaps be found on the tops of the highest Mountains above the grosser Clouds. In South Africa he had spent many nights observing from mountain tops, the Admiralty approved his grant and he was offered the loan of further equipment from many sources. Robert Stephenson loaned his 140-ton yacht Titania for the expedition, mr. Hugh Pattinson loaned his refracting telescope of 7.5 inches. This was a Thomas Cooke equatorial with setting circles and a driving clock, the Crimean War had recently concluded and the army offered to lend tents. This offer was declined as Piazzi Smyth had already designed a tent with a sewn-in groundsheet based on his experience in South Africa, on this and all his subsequent trips he was accompanied by his wife whom he had married the previous year. In 1856, on reaching Tenerife they first set up camp on Mount Guajara and it was higher than all its neighbours and free from any volcanic activity. They took all their equipment up loaded on mules, except for the Pattinson telescope which was too bulky. They stayed there a month making astronomical, meteorological and geological observations and he made observations of the steadiness and clarity of star images with the 3. 6-inch Sheepshanks telescope and found both much better than at Edinburgh. He also made the first positive detection of heat coming from the Moon, unfortunately they were annoyed by frequent dust incursions which frequently blotted out the horizon. Even when the dust was at its worst, the transparency at the zenith was better than at Edinburgh. The dust was evidently confined to individual layers, so he decided to move to Alta Vista at 10,700 ft, on the slope of Teide
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Tenerife
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Tenerife is the largest and most populated island of the seven Canary Islands. It is also the most populated island of Spain, with an area of 2,034.38 square kilometres and 898,680 inhabitants,43 percent of the total population of the Canary Islands. Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of Macaronesia, about five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the most of any of the Canary Islands. It is one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain, Tenerife hosts one of the worlds largest carnivals and the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is working to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Served by two airports, Tenerife North Airport and Tenerife South Airport, Tenerife is the centre of the archipelago. The 1977 collision of two Boeing 747 passenger jets at Tenerife North Airport, resulting in 583 deaths, remains the deadliest aviation accident in world history, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of the island and the seat of the island council. The city is capital of the community of Canary Islands, sharing governmental institutions such as Presidency. Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927, Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 the Crown ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, Santa Cruz contains the modern Auditorio de Tenerife, the architectural symbol of the Canary Islands. The island is home to the University of La Laguna, founded in 1792 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is the second to have been founded on the island, and is the third of the archipelago. The city of La Laguna was capital of the Canary Islands before Santa Cruz replaced it in 1833, also located on the island, Macizo de Anaga since 2015 has been designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It has the largest number of species in Europe. The islands indigenous people, the Guanches, referred to the island as Achinet or Chenet in their language. According to Pliny the Younger, Berber king Juba II sent an expedition to the Canary Islands and Madeira, he named the Canary Islands for the particularly ferocious dogs on the island. Juba II and Ancient Romans referred to the island of Tenerife as Nivaria, derived from the Latin word nix, meaning snow, the Benahoaritas are said to have named the island, deriving it from the words tene and ife. After colonisation, the Hispanisation of the resulted in adding the letter r to unite both words, producing Tenerife. He ruled the island in the days before the conquest of the Canary Islands by Castilla. The formal demonym used to refer to the people of Tenerife is Tinerfeño/a, in modern society, the latter term is generally applied only to inhabitants of the capital, Santa Cruz
27.
Time signal
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A time signal is a visible, audible, mechanical, or electronic signal used as a reference to determine the time of day. Church bells or voices announcing hours of prayer gave way to automatically operated chimes on public clocks, however, busy ports used a visual signal, the dropping of a ball, to allow mariners to check the chronometers used for navigation. The advent of electrical telegraphs allowed widespread and precise distribution of time signals from central observatories, Railways were among the first customers for time signals, which allowed synchronization of their operations over wide geographic areas. Special purpose radio time signal stations transmit a signal that allows automatic synchronization of clocks, today, GPS navigation radio signals are used to precisely distribute time signals over much of the world. There are many commercially available radio controlled clocks available to indicate the local time. Computers often set their time from an atomic clock source. Where this is not available, a locally connected GPS receiver can set the time using a software application. There are several such applications available to download from the internet, One sort of public time signal is a striking clock. These clocks are only as good as the clockwork that activates them, until modern times, a public clock such as Big Ben was the only time standard the general public needed. When more accurate time signals were required in navigation, a number of traditional audible or visible time signals were established so navigators could check their marine chronometers and these public time signals were formerly established in many seaport cities. In Vancouver, British Columbia, a 9 OClock Gun is still shot every night at 9 pm, the 9,00 pm firing was later established as a time signal for the general population. Until a time gun was installed, the nearby Brockton Point lighthouse keeper detonated a stick of dynamite, elsewhere in Canada, a Noon Gun is fired daily from the citadels in Halifax and Quebec City. In the same manner, a gun has been fired in Cape Town, South Africa. The gun is fired daily from the Lion Battery at Signal Hill, a cannon was fired at one oclock every weekday at Liverpool, England, at the Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, and also at Perth in Australia to establish the time. The Edinburgh One OClock Gun is still in operation, a cannon located at the top of Santa Lucia Hill, in Santiago, Chile, is shot every noon. In Rome, on the Janiculum, a hill west of the Tiber since 1904 a cannon is fired daily at noon towards the river as a time signal and this was introduced in 1847 by Pope Pius IX to synchronise all the church bells of Rome. It was situated in Castel SantAngelo until 1903 when it was moved to Monte Mario for a few months until it was placed in its current position. The cannon was silenced from the start of WWII for about twenty years until 21 April 1959, the 2712th anniversary of Romes founding, and has been in use since then
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Time ball
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Time ball or timeball or ball time is an obsolete time-signalling device. Accurate timekeeping is essential to the determination of longitude at sea, although the use of time balls has been replaced by electronic time signals, some time balls have remained operational as historical tourist attractions. The fall of a ball was in antiquity a way to show to people the time. Ancient Greek clocks had this system in the square of a city, as in the city of Gaza inpost Alexander era. Time ball stations set their clocks according to observations of the positions of the sun. Originally they either had to be stationed at the observatory, or had to keep an accurate clock at the station which was set manually to observatory time. Following the introduction of the electric telegraph around 1850, time balls could be located at a distance from their source of mean time, the first time ball was erected at Portsmouth, England, in 1829 by its inventor Robert Wauchope, a captain in the Royal Navy. Others followed in the ports of the United Kingdom and around the maritime world. One was installed in 1833 at the Greenwich Observatory in London by the Astronomer Royal, John Pond, Wauchope submitted his scheme to American and French ambassadors when they visited England. The United States Naval Observatory was established in Washington, D. C. Time balls were usually dropped at 1 p. m. They were raised half way about 5 minutes earlier to alert the ships, the time was recorded when the ball began descending, not when it reached the bottom. With the commencement of radio signals, time balls gradually became obsolete. Rather than the ball being dropped rapidly with its used as the time signal. The Lyttelton Timeball Station in Lyttelton, New Zealand, was operational until it was damaged in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, in November 2012, a large financial donation was made available to contribute towards rebuilding the tower, a project the community considered. On 25 May 2013, it was announced that the tower and ball would be restored, today there are over sixty time balls standing, though many of these are no longer operational. Index to the House Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Executive Documents, list of time balls worldwide in 1876. Time ball/cannon hobbyist Time ball and cannon Association
29.
Nelson Monument, Edinburgh
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The Nelson Monument is a commemorative tower in honour of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated on top of Calton Hill, and provides a dramatic termination to the vista along Princes Street from the west. The monument was built between 1807 and 1815 to commemorate Nelsons victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, in 1853 a time ball was added, as a time signal to shipping in Leith harbour. The monument was restored in 2009, the Royal Navys White Ensign and signal flags spelling out Nelsons famous message England expects that every man will do his duty are flown from the Monument on Trafalgar Day each year. The monument was constructed at the highest point of Calton Hill, at 171 metres above sea-level, the monument was funded by public subscription and an initial design prepared by Alexander Nasmyth. His pagoda-like design was deemed too expensive, and a design in the form of an upturned telescope—an object closely associated with Nelson—was obtained from the architect Robert Burn. Building began in 1807, and was almost complete when money ran out the following year, Burn died in 1815, and it was left to Thomas Bonnar to complete the pentagonal castellated building, which forms the base to the tower, between 1814 and 1816. The tower was intended as a signal mast, attended by sailors who would be accommodated within the ground floor rooms, public access was available from the start, for a small fee. The rooms were used to house the monuments caretaker. In 2009, as part of the Twelve Monuments Restoration Project, the monument is a category A listed building. The monument is 32 metres high, and has 143 steps leading to a viewing gallery. The castellated design reflects the castellated prison buildings which stood on the side of Calton Hill in the early 19th century. A plaque above the entrance to the monument carries the dedication, Above the plaque is a stone carving of the San Josef. On top of the tower is a ball, a large ball which was raised and lowered to mark the time. The mechanism was the work of Maudslay, Sons & Field of Lambeth, the installation was carried out by James Ritchie & Son Ltd, who are still retained by City of Edinburgh Council to maintain and operate the time ball. The ball, constructed of wood and covered in zinc, and weighing 762 kilograms, is raised just before 1pm, later, in 1861, the One OClock Gun was established at Edinburgh Castle to provide an audible signal when fog obscured the time ball. The time ball was operated for over 150 years, until it was damaged by a storm in 2007, in 2009, as part of the restoration of the monument, the time ball was removed, and the mechanism repaired. The time ball was back into service on 24 September 2009
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Leith
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Leith /ˈliːθ/, Scottish Gaelic, Lìte, is a district to the north of the city of Edinburgh at the mouth of the Water of Leith. The earliest surviving references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of Holyrood Abbey in 1128. The medieval settlements of Leith had grown into a burgh by 1833, historically part of Midlothian, Leith is sited on the coast of the Firth of Forth and lies within the council area of the City of Edinburgh. The port remains one of its most valuable enterprises, handling over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo a year in 2003, previous to the bridge being built in the late 15th century, Leith had settlements on either side of the river, lacking an easy crossing. South Leith was larger and was controlled by the lairds of Restalrig and it was based on trade and had many merchants houses and warehouses. This was where ships offloaded their cargoes at The Shore where they were collected by Edinburgh merchants, leithers were explicitly forbidden by statute to participate directly in the trade at the port, to ensure that landed goods were not sold elsewhere. North Leith was smaller but proportionately richer, coming under the jurisdiction of Holyrood Abbey and it was effectively a fishing village consisting of one street, now Sandport Street and Quayside Lane. Burgage plots ran down to the river from each house and this has traditionally been the shipbuilding side of Leith with several wet and dry docks built over time. The first dry dock in Scotland was built here in 1720, a small peninsula of land on the east bank also came under the same jurisdiction on what is now Sheriff Brae/Sheriff Bank. The first bridge to both banks of the river was built in 1493 by Abbot Bellenden, who controlled the church at North Leith. The bridge was a bridge, the revenue supplementing the churchs income. Reputedly Leiths oldest building, it was demolished in 1780 to allow ships to sail further upstream, the earliest evidence of settlement in Leith comes from several archaeological digs undertaken in the Shore area in the late 20th century. Amongst the finds were medieval wharf edges from the 12th century and this date fits with the earliest documentary evidence of settlement in Leith - the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey. Leith has played a long and prominent role in Scottish history, as the major port serving Edinburgh, it has been the stage on which many significant events in Scottish history have taken place. Mary of Guise ruled Scotland from Leith in 1560 as Regent while her daughter, Mary, Mary of Guise moved the Scottish Court to Leith, to a site that is now Parliament Street, off Coalhill. According to the 18th-century historian William Maitland, her palace was situated on Rotten Row, now Water Street. Artifacts from the residence are held by the National Museum of Scotland. In June 1560, Mary of Guise died, and the Siege of Leith ended with the departure of the French troops in accordance with the Treaty of Leith, also known as the Treaty of Edinburgh
31.
Noon Gun
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The Noon Gun has been a historic time signal in Cape Town, South Africa since 1806. The gun is situated on Signal Hill, close to the centre of the city. The settlement at the Cape of Good Hope was founded by the Dutch in 1652, in 1795 during the Napoleonic Wars, Britain took the Cape Colony from the Dutch East India Company. The VOC transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, the British handed the Cape Colony back to the Batavian Republic in 1803. However, in 1806 the Cape was occupied again by the British after the Battle of Blaauwberg, thereafter the British controlled the Cape continuously until it became a part of the independent Union of South Africa in 1910. Shortly after the English took over, the two Dutch guns were removed from the Imoff Battery and placed in town as signal guns, the Castle received the latest English 18 pounders. 6″S 18°24′41. 85″E. The first signal fired from there was on 4 August 1902, sailing ships were slow by modern standards and could not store fresh food for long periods, so the provisioning of vessels was one of the major commercial functions at Cape Town in those olden days. Indeed, the city was renowned as The Tavern of the Seas. There were no telephones or telegraphs before the half of the 19th century. The guns were originally used to announce the arrival of a ship, perhaps requiring provisions for the next leg of its journey. The use of the guns to indicate that a ship was in port was discontinued when more modern means of communication were developed more than a hundred years ago. In addition to the aforementioned signalling duties, the guns have had the task of firing a time signal since 1806, according to local tradition, the initial purpose of the gun was to allow ships in port to check the accuracy of their marine chronometers. The gun report might be too inaccurate for ships several kilometers away if they did not correctly compensate for the slow speed of sound. For this reason ships marked their time by the puff of smoke rather than the sound, the invention of the more accurate time ball in 1818 soon made time guns redundant for mariners wishing to set their chronometers. The time ball on Signal Hill was used to time from the Cape Town Observatory. At precisely 1, 30pm Cape Mean Time, the ball would be dropped at the Observatory – an observer on Signal Hill would then drop that more prominent ball too. When setting their chronometers, mariners adjusted their observation of the ball on Signal Hill by a second to allow for the relay from the observatory. One day in June 1895 the gun fired at 10,30 rather than 12,00 when a spider interfered with the used to remotely fire the gun
32.
Edinburgh Castle
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Edinburgh Castle is a historic fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position on the Castle Rock. Archaeologists have established human occupation of the rock since at least the Iron Age, there has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century the residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison. Research undertaken in 2014 identified 26 sieges in its 1100-year-old history, giving it a claim to having been the most besieged place in Great Britain, few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The castle also houses the Scottish regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland and is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial, the British Army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its presence is now largely ceremonial and administrative. Some of the buildings house regimental museums which contribute to its presentation as a tourist attraction. The castle, in the care of Historic Scotland, is Scotlands most-visited paid tourist attraction, the castle stands upon the plug of an extinct volcano, which is estimated to have risen about 350 million years ago during the lower Carboniferous period. The Castle Rock is the remains of a pipe, which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock before cooling to form very hard dolerite. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation. The summit of the Castle Rock is 130 metres above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west and north and this means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. The defensive advantage of such a site is self-evident, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, archaeological investigation has yet to establish when the Castle Rock was first used as a place of human habitation. There is no record of any Roman interest in the location during General Agricolas invasion of northern Britain near the end of the 1st century AD. Ptolemys map of the 2nd century AD shows a settlement in the territory of the Votadini named Alauna, meaning rock place and this could, however, refer to another of the tribes hill forts in the area. The Orygynale Cronykil of Andrew of Wyntoun, a source for Scottish history, names Ebrawce. According to the chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Ebraucus had fifty children by his twenty wives, and was the founder of Kaerebrauc, Alclud. The 16th-century English writer John Stow, credited Ebraucus with building the Castell of Maidens called Edenbrough in 989 BC, the name Maidens Castle occurs frequently up until the 16th century. It appears in charters of David I and his successors, although the reason for it is not known. According to the 17th-century antiquarian Father Richard Hay, the maidens were a group of nuns, however, this story was considered apocryphal by the 19th-century antiquarian Daniel Wilson and has been ignored by historians since
33.
Asteroid
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Asteroids are minor planets, especially those of the inner Solar System. The larger ones have also been called planetoids and these terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disc of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet. As minor planets in the outer Solar System were discovered and found to have volatile-based surfaces that resemble those of comets, in this article, the term asteroid refers to the minor planets of the inner Solar System including those co-orbital with Jupiter. There are millions of asteroids, many thought to be the remnants of planetesimals. The large majority of known asteroids orbit in the belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, or are co-orbital with Jupiter. However, other orbital families exist with significant populations, including the near-Earth objects, individual asteroids are classified by their characteristic spectra, with the majority falling into three main groups, C-type, M-type, and S-type. These were named after and are identified with carbon-rich, metallic. The size of asteroids varies greatly, some reaching as much as 1000 km across, asteroids are differentiated from comets and meteoroids. In the case of comets, the difference is one of composition, while asteroids are composed of mineral and rock, comets are composed of dust. In addition, asteroids formed closer to the sun, preventing the development of the aforementioned cometary ice, the difference between asteroids and meteoroids is mainly one of size, meteoroids have a diameter of less than one meter, whereas asteroids have a diameter of greater than one meter. Finally, meteoroids can be composed of either cometary or asteroidal materials, only one asteroid,4 Vesta, which has a relatively reflective surface, is normally visible to the naked eye, and this only in very dark skies when it is favorably positioned. Rarely, small asteroids passing close to Earth may be visible to the eye for a short time. As of March 2016, the Minor Planet Center had data on more than 1.3 million objects in the inner and outer Solar System, the United Nations declared June 30 as International Asteroid Day to educate the public about asteroids. The date of International Asteroid Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact over Siberia, the first asteroid to be discovered, Ceres, was found in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, and was originally considered to be a new planet. In the early half of the nineteenth century, the terms asteroid. Asteroid discovery methods have improved over the past two centuries. This task required that hand-drawn sky charts be prepared for all stars in the band down to an agreed-upon limit of faintness. On subsequent nights, the sky would be charted again and any moving object would, hopefully, the expected motion of the missing planet was about 30 seconds of arc per hour, readily discernible by observers
34.
Dunecht
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Dunecht is a slightly linear village on the A944 road in north-east Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It is not to be confused with Echt, Dunecht is located 12 miles west of the city of Aberdeen and is situated by the confluence of the Kinnernie and Bervie burns. Formerly known as Waterton, it was renamed to Dunecht in the 1820s when the Crawford family built Dunecht House, the estate achieved a certain measure of notoriety in 1881 due to theft of the remains of the Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford. Dunecht House, once owned by Viscount Cowdray is now privately owned, Dunecht House is to the south of the village and was once famed for its observatory, ballroom and library, as well as gardens which were opened once a year to the public. Corsindae House is five miles west of here, and is in the Scottish baronial style, amenities in the village include a school, a pub, and a garage-come-shop
35.
Ralph Copeland
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Dr Ralph Copeland FRSE FRAS was an English astronomer and the third Astronomer Royal for Scotland. Copeland was born at Moorside Farm, near Woodplumpton in Lancashire, England the son of Robert Copeland, yeoman, and his wife, Elizabeth Milner and he spent five years in Australia where he discovered his interest in astronomy. He returned in 1858 to pursue a career in engineering, eager to pursue his astronomical interests, Copeland built a small observatory, gave up engineering, and then travelled to Germany to study astronomy at the University of Göttingen. When he returned to England, as a patron of Lord Rosse, later he appointed many German astronomers as assistants, such as Oswald Lohse. Copeland then worked at the Dun Echt Observatory owned by the 26th Earl of Crawford, on 29 January 1889, Copeland became Astronomer Royal for Scotland, whereupon he first worked at the Calton Hill Observatory, Edinburgh. He was tasked to select a site for a new observatory, eventually choosing Blackford Hill, Lord Crawford, his former benefactor, donated the astronomical collection from Dun Echt to the new site, which was opened in 1896. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1889, his proposers were John McLaren, Lord McLaren, Alexander Forbes Irvine, Alexander Buchan and he served as the Societys Vice President 1892-86 and 1898-1903. Copeland discovered thirty-five NGC objects, most of them with Lord Rosses 72 reflector, planetary nebulae were found by visual spectroscopy at Dun Echt and during an Andes expedition. Seven of the galaxies in the constellation Leo form the famous Copeland Septet, NGC3745,3746,3748,3750,3751,3753, Copeland was married twice, firstly in 1859 to Susannah Milner, and secondly in 1871 to Theodora Benfey. They lived on site at the Blackford Hill Observatory and he was fluent in French, German and Persian. He died in Edinburgh on 27 October 1905 and he was buried in Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh. He is buried with his wife, Theodora, and his daughters Paula Theodora Copeland. The grave lies in the south-west section of the cemetery, mount Copeland, in the Monashee Mountains to the northwest of Revelstoke, British Columbia, was named for him in 1939, as was Copeland Ridge and nearby Copeland Creek. Mount Copeland is the site of the highest recorded snowfall in Canada in one season, dreyer, J. L. E. Ralph Copeland. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
36.
Refracting telescope
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A refracting telescope is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image. The refracting telescope design was used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long focus camera lenses. A refractors magnification is calculated by dividing the length of the objective lens by that of the eyepiece. Refractors were the earliest type of optical telescope, Galileo Galilei, happening to be in Venice in about the month of May 1609, heard of the invention and constructed a version of his own. Galileo then communicated the details of his invention to the public, all refracting telescopes use the same principles. The objective in a refracting telescope refracts or bends light and this refraction causes parallel light rays to converge at a focal point, while those not parallel converge upon a focal plane. The telescope converts a bundle of rays to make an angle α. The ratio β/α is called the angular magnification and it equals the ratio between the retinal image sizes obtained with and without the telescope. Refracting telescopes can come in different configurations to correct for image orientation. Because the image was formed by the bending of light, or refraction, the design Galileo Galilei used in 1609 is commonly called a Galilean telescope. It used a convergent objective lens and a divergent eyepiece lens, a Galilean telescope, because the design has no intermediary focus, results in a non-inverted and upright image. Galileo’s best telescope magnified objects about 30 times, because of flaws in its design, such as the shape of the lens and the narrow field of view, the images were blurry and distorted. Despite these flaws, the telescope was still enough for Galileo to explore the sky. The Galilean telescope could view the phases of Venus, and was able to see craters on the Moon, parallel rays of light from a distant object would be brought to a focus in the focal plane of the objective lens. The eyepiece lens intercepts these rays and renders them parallel once more, non-parallel rays of light from the object traveling at an angle α1 to the optical axis travel at a larger angle after they passed through the eyepiece. This leads to an increase in the apparent angular size and is responsible for the perceived magnification, the final image is a virtual image, located at infinity and is the same way up as the object. The Keplerian telescope, invented by Johannes Kepler in 1611, is an improvement on Galileos design and it uses a convex lens as the eyepiece instead of Galileos concave one. The advantage of this arrangement is that the rays of light emerging from the eyepiece are converging and this allows for a much wider field of view and greater eye relief, but the image for the viewer is inverted
37.
Meridian circle
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The meridian circle is an instrument for timing of the passage of stars across the local meridian, an event known as a transit, while at the same time measuring their angular distance from the nadir. Meridian telescopes rely on the rotation of the Earth to bring objects into their field of view and are mounted on a fixed, horizontal, east–west axis. The similar transit instrument, transit circle or transit telescope is mounted on a horizontal axis. For instance, a surveyors theodolite can function as an instrument if its telescope is capable of a full revolution about the horizontal axis. Meridian circles are called by these names, although they are less specific. For many years, transit timings were the most accurate method of measuring the positions of heavenly bodies, before spectroscopy, photography, and the perfection of reflecting telescopes, the measuring of positions was the major work of observatories. Revolving the telescope about its axis moves it directly in declination, all objects in the sky are subject to the distortion of atmospheric refraction, which tends to make objects appear slightly higher in the sky than they actually are. At the meridian, this distortion is in only, and is easily accounted for, elsewhere in the sky. Such complex analysis is not conducive to high precision, the state of the art of meridian instruments of the late 19th and early 20th century is described here, giving some idea of the precise methods of construction, operation and adjustment employed. The earliest transit telescope was not placed in the middle of the axis, later, it was usually placed in the centre of the axis, which consisted of one piece of brass or gun metal with turned cylindrical steel pivots at each end. Several instruments were made entirely of steel, which was more rigid than brass. The pivots rested on V-shaped bearings, either set into stone or brick piers which supported the instrument. The temperature of the bearings was monitored by thermometers, the piers were usually separate from the foundation of the building, to prevent transmission of vibration from the building to the telescope. In some cases, the counterweight pushed up on the bearing from below, the bearings were set nearly in a true east–west line, but fine adjustment was possible by horizontal and vertical screws. A spirit level was used to monitor for any inclination of the axis to the horizon, eccentricity of the telescopes axis was accounted for, in some cases, by providing another telescope through the axis itself. By observing the motion of a star through this axis telescope as the main telescope was rotated, the shape of the pivots. Near each end of the axis, attached to the axis, generally of 3 feet to 3.5 ft diameter, it was divided to 2 or 5 arcminutes, on a slip of silver set into the face of the circle near the circumference. These graduations were read by microscopes, generally four for each circle, mounted to the piers or a framework surrounding the axis, by averaging the four readings the eccentricity and the errors of graduation were greatly reduced
38.
Rosyth Dockyard
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Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was formally the Royal Naval Dockyard Rosyth and its primary role is now as integration site for the Royal Navys newest aircraft carriers - the Queen Elizabeth-class. Construction of the dockyard by civil engineers Easton, Gibb & Son commenced in 1909, at the time, the Royal Navy was strengthening its presence along the eastern seaboard of Great Britain due to a naval arms race with Germany. HMS Russell In 1903 approval was given with an estimated cost of £3 million for works, the site consisted of 1,184 acres of land,285 acres of foreshore, and the main basin would be 52.5 acres. Large enough for 11 battleships or 22 if doubled up, the first ship to dry dock there was the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Zealandia on 28 March 1916. HMS Magnificent as a store ship between October 1918 &4 February 1920. HMS Crescent as a depot ship between 1 May 1920 and 17 September 1921. HMS London as a minelayer between February 1918 and January 1919 and this contract was awarded in parallel with Devonport Management Limiteds contract to run Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. In 1993 the Ministry of Defence announced plans to privatise Rosyth, in 1984 Rosyth was chosen as the sole location for refitting the Royal Navys nuclear submarine fleet, and in 1986 extensive rebuilding commenced to facilitate this new role. However in 1993, the government switched the refitting role to Devonport Dockyard, graveyard fear as subs hull is holed, Dunfermline Press,3 April 2008
39.
Pendulum clock
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A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is an oscillator, it swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on its length. From its invention in 1656 by Christiaan Huygens until the 1930s, Pendulum clocks must be stationary to operate, any motion or accelerations will affect the motion of the pendulum, causing inaccuracies, so other mechanisms must be used in portable timepieces. They are now mostly for their decorative and antique value. The pendulum clock was invented in 1656 by Dutch scientist and inventor Christiaan Huygens, Huygens contracted the construction of his clock designs to clockmaker Salomon Coster, who actually built the clock. Huygens was inspired by investigations of pendulums by Galileo Galilei beginning around 1602, Galileo discovered the key property that makes pendulums useful timekeepers, isochronism, which means that the period of swing of a pendulum is approximately the same for different sized swings. Galileo had the idea for a clock in 1637, which was partly constructed by his son in 1649. These early clocks, due to their verge escapements, had wide pendulum swings of up to 100°, clockmakers realization that only pendulums with small swings of a few degrees are isochronous motivated the invention of the anchor escapement around 1670, which reduced the pendulums swing to 4–6°. The anchor became the standard escapement used in pendulum clocks, in addition to increased accuracy, the anchors narrow pendulum swing allowed the clocks case to accommodate longer, slower pendulums, which needed less power and caused less wear on the movement. The seconds pendulum,0.994 m long, in which each swing takes one second, the long narrow clocks built around these pendulums, first made by William Clement around 1680, became known as grandfather clocks. The increased accuracy resulting from these developments caused the hand, previously rare. The 18th and 19th century wave of innovation that followed the invention of the pendulum brought many improvements to pendulum clocks. Observation that pendulum clocks slowed down in summer brought the realization that thermal expansion and contraction of the rod with changes in temperature was a source of error. This was solved by the invention of temperature-compensated pendulums, the pendulum by George Graham in 1721. With these improvements, by the mid-18th century precision pendulum clocks achieved accuracies of a few seconds per week, until the 19th century, clocks were handmade by individual craftsmen and were very expensive. The rich ornamentation of pendulum clocks of this period indicates their value as symbols of the wealthy. The clockmakers of each country and region in Europe developed their own distinctive styles, by the 19th century, factory production of clock parts gradually made pendulum clocks affordable by middle-class families. During the Industrial Revolution, daily life was organized around the pendulum clock
40.
Quartz clock
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A quartz clock is a clock that uses an electronic oscillator that is regulated by a quartz crystal to keep time. This crystal oscillator creates a signal with very precise frequency, so that quartz clocks are at least an order of more accurate than mechanical clocks. Generally, some form of digital logic counts the cycles of this signal and provides a numeric display, usually in units of hours, minutes. The first quartz clock was built in 1927 by Warren Marrison, chemically, quartz is a compound called silicon dioxide. Many materials can be formed into plates that will resonate, however, quartz is also a piezoelectric material, that is, when a quartz crystal is subject to mechanical stress, such as bending, it accumulates electrical charge across some planes. In a reverse effect, if charges are placed across the crystal plane, since quartz can be directly driven by an electric signal, no additional speaker or microphone is required to use it in a resonator. Similar crystals are used in low-end phonograph cartridges, The movement of the stylus flexes a quartz crystal, which produces a small voltage, Quartz microphones are still available, though not common. Quartz has an advantage in that its size does not change much as temperature fluctuates. Fused quartz is used for laboratory equipment that must not change shape along with the temperature. A quartz plates resonance frequency, based on its size, will not significantly rise or fall, similarly, since its resonator does not change shape, a quartz clock will remain relatively accurate as the temperature changes. In the early 20th century, radio engineers sought a precise, stable source of radio frequencies, however, when Walter Guyton Cady found that quartz can resonate with less equipment and better temperature stability, steel resonators disappeared within a few years. Later, scientists at NIST discovered that a crystal oscillator could be accurate than a pendulum clock. The electronic circuit is an oscillator, an amplifier whose output passes through the quartz resonator, the resonator acts as an electronic filter, eliminating all but the single frequency of interest. The output of the resonator feeds back to the input of the amplifier, when the circuit starts up, even a single shot can cascade to bringing the oscillator at the desired frequency. If the amplifier is too perfect, the oscillator will not start, the frequency at which the crystal oscillates depends on its shape, size, and the crystal plane on which the quartz is cut. The positions at which electrodes are placed can slightly change the tuning, if the crystal is accurately shaped and positioned, it will oscillate at a desired frequency. In nearly all quartz watches, the frequency is 32,768 Hz, and this frequency is a power of two, just high enough so most people cannot hear it, yet low enough to permit inexpensive counters to derive a 1-second pulse. A 15-bit binary digital counter driven by the frequency will overflow once per second, the pulse-per-second output can be used to drive many kinds of clocks
41.
Photoelectric
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The photoelectric effect or photo ionization is the emission of electrons or other free carriers when light is shone onto a material. Electrons emitted in this manner can be called photo electrons, the phenomenon is commonly studied in electronic physics, as well as in fields of chemistry, such as quantum chemistry or electrochemistry. According to classical theory, this effect can be attributed to the transfer of energy from the light to an electron. From this perspective, an alteration in the intensity of light would induce changes in the energy of the electrons emitted from the metal. Furthermore, according to theory, a sufficiently dim light would be expected to show a time lag between the initial shining of its light and the subsequent emission of an electron. However, the results did not correlate with either of the two predictions made by classical theory. Instead, electrons are dislodged only by the impingement of photons when those photons reach or exceed a threshold frequency, below that threshold, no electrons are emitted from the metal regardless of the light intensity or the length of time of exposure to the light. This shed light on Max Plancks previous discovery of the Planck relation linking energy, the factor h is known as the Planck constant. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz discovered that illuminated with ultraviolet light create electric sparks more easily. In 1900, while studying black-body radiation, the German physicist Max Planck suggested that the energy carried by electromagnetic waves could only be released in packets of energy. In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper advancing the hypothesis that energy is carried in discrete quantized packets to explain experimental data from the photoelectric effect. This model contributed to the development of quantum mechanics, in 1914, Robert Millikans experiment supported Einsteins model of the photoelectric effect. The photoelectric effect requires photons with energies approaching zero to over 1 MeV for core electrons in elements with an atomic number. Emission of conduction electrons from typical metals usually requires a few electron-volts, study of the photoelectric effect led to important steps in understanding the quantum nature of light and electrons and influenced the formation of the concept of wave–particle duality. Other phenomena where light affects the movement of electric charges include the effect, the photovoltaic effect. It is also usual to have the surface in a vacuum, since gases impede the flow of photoelectrons. When the photoelectron is emitted into a rather than into a vacuum, the term internal photoemission is often used. The photons of a light beam have an energy proportional to the frequency of the light
42.
Apparent magnitude
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The apparent magnitude of a celestial object is a number that is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth. The brighter an object appears, the lower its magnitude value, the Sun, at apparent magnitude of −27, is the brightest object in the sky. It is adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere, furthermore, the magnitude scale is logarithmic, a difference of one in magnitude corresponds to a change in brightness by a factor of 5√100, or about 2.512. The measurement of apparent magnitudes or brightnesses of celestial objects is known as photometry, apparent magnitudes are used to quantify the brightness of sources at ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths. An apparent magnitude is measured in a specific passband corresponding to some photometric system such as the UBV system. In standard astronomical notation, an apparent magnitude in the V filter band would be denoted either as mV or often simply as V, the scale used to indicate magnitude originates in the Hellenistic practice of dividing stars visible to the naked eye into six magnitudes. The brightest stars in the sky were said to be of first magnitude, whereas the faintest were of sixth magnitude. Each grade of magnitude was considered twice the brightness of the following grade and this rather crude scale for the brightness of stars was popularized by Ptolemy in his Almagest, and is generally believed to have originated with Hipparchus. This implies that a star of magnitude m is 2.512 times as bright as a star of magnitude m +1 and this figure, the fifth root of 100, became known as Pogsons Ratio. The zero point of Pogsons scale was defined by assigning Polaris a magnitude of exactly 2. However, with the advent of infrared astronomy it was revealed that Vegas radiation includes an Infrared excess presumably due to a disk consisting of dust at warm temperatures. At shorter wavelengths, there is negligible emission from dust at these temperatures, however, in order to properly extend the magnitude scale further into the infrared, this peculiarity of Vega should not affect the definition of the magnitude scale. Therefore, the scale was extrapolated to all wavelengths on the basis of the black body radiation curve for an ideal stellar surface at 11000 K uncontaminated by circumstellar radiation. On this basis the spectral irradiance for the zero magnitude point, with the modern magnitude systems, brightness over a very wide range is specified according to the logarithmic definition detailed below, using this zero reference. In practice such apparent magnitudes do not exceed 30, astronomers have developed other photometric zeropoint systems as alternatives to the Vega system. The AB magnitude zeropoint is defined such that an objects AB, the dimmer an object appears, the higher the numerical value given to its apparent magnitude, with a difference of 5 magnitudes corresponding to a brightness factor of exactly 100. Since an increase of 5 magnitudes corresponds to a decrease in brightness by a factor of exactly 100, each magnitude increase implies a decrease in brightness by the factor 5√100 ≈2.512. Inverting the above formula, a magnitude difference m1 − m2 = Δm implies a brightness factor of F2 F1 =100 Δ m 5 =100.4 Δ m ≈2.512 Δ m
43.
Astronomical spectroscopy
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Astronomical spectroscopy is used to measure three major bands of radiation, visible spectrum, radio, and X-ray. While all spectroscopy looks at areas of the spectrum, different methods are required to acquire the signal depending on the frequency. Ozone and molecular oxygen absorb light with wavelengths under 300 nm, meaning that X-ray, radio signals have much longer wavelengths than optical signals, and require the use of antennas or radio dishes. Physicists have been looking at the solar spectrum since Isaac Newton first used a prism to observe the refractive properties of light. In the early 1800s Joseph von Fraunhofer used his skills as a maker to create very pure prisms. The resolution of a prism is limited by its size, a prism will provide a more detailed spectrum. This issue was resolved in the early 1900s with the development of high-quality reflection gratings by J. S, plaskett at the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Canada. By creating a blazed grating which utilizes a number of parallel mirrors. These new spectroscopes were more detailed than a prism, required less light, the limitation to a blazed grating is the width of the mirrors, which can only be ground a finite amount before focus is lost, the maximum is around 1000 lines/mm. In order to overcome this limitation holographic gratings were developed, volume phase holographic gratings use a thin film of dichromated gelatin on a glass surface, which is subsequently exposed to a wave pattern created by an interferometer. The holographic gratings can have up to 6000 lines/mm and can be up to twice as efficient in collecting light as blazed gratings, because they are sealed between two sheets of glass, the holographic gratings are very versatile, potentially lasting decades before needing replacement. Light dispersed by the grating or prism in a spectrograph can be recorded by a detector, historically, photographic plates were widely used to record spectra until electronic detectors were developed, and today optical spectrographs most often employ charge-coupled devices. The wavelength scale of a spectrum can be calibrated by observing the spectrum of emission lines of known wavelength from a gas-discharge lamp, radio astronomy was founded with the work of Karl Jansky in the early 1930s, while working for Bell Labs. He built an antenna to look at potential sources of interference for transatlantic radio transmissions. One of the sources of noise discovered came not from Earth, in 1942, JS Hey captured the suns radio frequency using military radar receivers. Radio spectroscopy started with the discovery of the 21-centimeter H I line in 1951, radio interferometry was pioneered in 1946, when Joseph Lade Pawsey, Ruby Payne-Scott and Lindsay McCready used a single antenna atop a sea cliff to observe 200 MHz solar radiation. Two incident beams, one directly from the sun and the other reflected from the sea surface, the first multi-receiver interferometer was built in the same year by Martin Ryle and Vonberg. In 1960, Ryle and Antony Hewish published the technique of aperture synthesis to analyze interferometer data, the aperture synthesis process, which involves autocorrelating and discrete Fourier transforming the incoming signal, recovers both the spatial and frequency variation in flux
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Scottish Office
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Following the Act of Union 1707 and the abolition of the old Scottish Parliament, the post of Secretary of State for Scotland was established within the government of Great Britain. The Secretary of State was entrusted with responsibility for the government of Scotland. The post of Secretary of State for Scotland was abolished in 1746, in 1828 the Home Secretary was formally put in charge of Scotland, but the Lord Advocate continued to be the voice of Scotland in the government and took the lead in Scottish debates. However the accountability of these Boards was not clear, they were staffed by amateurs, the post of Secretary for Scotland was established in 1885. From 1892 the holder sat in Cabinet and in 1926 the post was elevated to the rank of Principal Secretary of State, additional Parliamentary Under-Secretary posts were added in 1940 and 1951 and a Minister of State post was established in 1951. In 1969-70 one of the Under-Secretary posts was replaced by an additional Minister of State, from 1974 to 1979 there were two Ministers of State and three Under-Secretaries, reverting to one Minister of State in 1979. Board of Agriculture for Scotland abolished and recreated as Department of Agriculture for Scotland in 1928, merged with Scottish Office to form Scottish Home Department in 1939. Fishery Board for Scotland merged with Scottish Office to form Scottish Home Department in 1939, Scottish Board of Health abolished and recreated as Department of Health for Scotland in 1928. Scotch Education Department, created in 1839 but only active in 1872renamed Scottish Education Department in 1918. Renamed Scottish Office Education Department in 1991, renamed Scottish Office Education and Industry Department in 1995. Scottish Home Department created from the Prison Department, Agriculture Department & the Fishery Board for Scotland in 1939, abolished and recreated as Prison Department in 1928. Merged with Scottish Office to form Scottish Home Department in 1939, torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries Memorandum by The National Archives, Scottish World War II Administrative Records
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