design across time - Powerhouse Museum

+ 22 powerline spring 05
THE OBSERVATORY ADDS A NEW TELESCOPE TO ITS
COLLECTION AND MARS COMES CLOSE TO EARTH.
reflecting
history
�
In March this year the Museum
purchased a spectacular late
18th century reflecting
telescope at auction, using
funds from the Observatory’s
Name-a-Star fund-raising
program. The telescope was
made by respected London
instrument maker Dudley
Adams and is similar to the
one used by James Cook to
observe the transit of Venus
in 1769.
Reflecting telescopes, which
collect starlight with large
curved mirrors, are still
popular today. Examples range
from the giant Keck
telescopes in Hawaii, with their
10-metre-wide mirrors, to small
home-built instruments for the
amateur astronomer. The
speculum metal mirrors in the
Dudley Adams telescope
illustrate how technology has
changed since the 18th
century. Modern telescopes
now all use aluminised
glass mirrors.
THE DUDLEY ADAMS TELESCOPE ON DISPLAY AT SYDNEY
OBSERVATORY IN THE TRANSIT OF VENUS EXHIBITION. PHOTO BY
SOTHA BOURN.
Name a star and help build
the Observatory’s collection.
With Sydney Observatory’s
Name-a-Star program,
members of the public have
the opportunity to ‘adopt’ a
star in their own name or in
the name of a loved one. The
stars are taken from the
Observatory’s Southern star
catalogue and recorded on
the Observatory database. A
special viewing of the chosen
star through one of our
telescopes is part of the
package.
A Name-a-Star package is
both a unique gift and the
chance to help preserve and
expand the equipment and
collection of Australia’s oldest
observatory. For more
information, please call
(02) 9241 3767 or 9217 0478.
Nick Lomb
Curator of Astronomy
THE RED PLANET. PHOTO
COURTESY NASA.
looking
at Mars
a
In late October and early
November Mars will be at
opposition, which means it will
be closer to Earth than at any
time since 2003. During this
time Sydney Observatory will
be open for not-to-be-missed
telescopic views of the
red planet.
People have been fascinated
by Mars for thousands of years
but detailed views of the
surface had to await the arrival
of space probes in the 1960s.
Viking 1 and 2 were the first to
actually land on the surface of
the planet, in 1976, followed by
the Mars Path Finder in 1997
and the 2004 Mars Exploration
Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
observe +
Eighteen months later the
rovers are still exploring. Both
have revealed strong evidence
that Mars was once wet
enough to support life.
Opportunity has found ripple
patterns in rocks and marblesized
balls of hematite,
nicknamed ‘blueberries’, that
only form in salty water on
Earth. Spirit found rocks with
high levels of chlorine and
other chemicals that indicate
the rocks were once wet.
For details of Mars telescope
viewings and talks visit
sydneyobservatory.com.au.
Martin Anderson, Astronomy
Educator, Sydney Observatory