Snipfact:

    This 1 m (3.25 ft) telescope is the biggest refracting instrument made up to this time. It was completed in 1897.

    A giant telescope built in 1788 with a 1.2 m (3.9 ft) mirror. It is also known as Herschel’s “Forty-foot” reflector.

    The Earl of Rosse’s 1.8 m 5.9 ft) reflecting telescope, built in 1845, was used to discover the spiral form of galaxies. It was the world’s largest until the opening of Mount Wilson.

    Founded by King Charles II in 1675, but atmospheric and light pollution in London reduced its efficiency. In 1884 the prime or Greenwich Meridian, 0 o , Which passes through the Observatory, was adopted as the basis for all mapping and measurements. Longitude measurements refer to west or east of the meridian.

  Charles Messier (France, 1730-1817) studied comets and eclipses, but he is best known for his catalogue of starts first published in 1774.

    Percival Lowell (USA, 1855-1916) was founder of the Lowell Observatory, Arizona. He predicted that a planet would be found in the region where Pluto was later discovered.

    Edwin Hubble (USA, 1889-1953 made important discoveries about galaxies. The Hubble Space Telescope was named in his honour.