Talk:City Observatory

Thomas James Henderson

Is the City Observatory the former private observatory of Thomas James Henderson. If it is, the guy deserves at least a mention! If it is not, then the former private observatory on Calton Hill should be mentioned. --Mais oui! 19:56, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Have expanded the page a bit, based on the external link which was there. I think there may be some confusion somewhere between Thomas Henderson and Thomas Short; see the new additions and the reference for info on that. Comparing this with Henderson's article, that article doesn't in fact claim it was his private observatory, but the part about sale of the observatory to the university remains a little odd. Since it's unreferenced over there, I'm going to remove part of the claim from the Henderson article pending some clarification. – Kieran T ^(talk) 12:38, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Minor update: I've found a reference which goes into a bit more detail, with dates: http://www.astronomyedinburgh.org/publications/journals/38/hend.html – Kieran T ^(talk) 12:43, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Henderson and Thomas Short both deserve a mention. Henderson was the first Astronomer Royal for Scotland, after this observatory - the Playfair design - became a royal one. Short's observatory - the Craig house plus a precursor of the Playfair building - was a generation earlier, but not quite private; the city and university had stakes in that one, too. I can see why those two sources are used, they are on the web. Gavine's ASE Journal article on Henderson is only about one aspect of this place; he published a complete history of the place in earlier ASE Journals. The ASE booklet is already a compressed write-up and its use seems to have lead to the article being vandalised in 2005/06. I have Brück's book on astronomy in Edinburgh and have access to Gavine's PhD thesis on astronomy in Scotland, which are more complete sources. I propose that I expand the article based on those. Compare Edinburgh Astronomical Institution for some more info. – Chi And H (talk) 20:38, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

External links modified

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Relationship to Peck's "Murrayfield Observatory"?

In 1891 Peck published A Popular Handbook and Atlas of Astronomy. A plate opposite page 86 presents a series of lunar eclipse photos from 1888 "As Photographed at Murrayfield Observatory by W. Peck, F.R.A.S., with Silver-on-Glass Reflecting Telescope of 13 inches aperture." The City Observatory is on Calton Hill in Edinburgh and the main article lists other Buildings and Structures in Edinburg including "Murrayfield Ice Rink" and "Murrayfield Stadium" with the article on Murrayfield indicating that "Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre". The article says about City Observatory that, "The observatory opened in 1898 with William Peck as City Astronomer" and that is ten years after the Eclipse photos he took at "Murrayfield". So can anyone identify Murrayfield Observatory? Was that a temporary name for the place in January in perhaps a difficult year when the article says, "By 1888, when Smyth resigned, through underfunding the observatory's equipment had become largely obsolete." Thoughts? Bob Enyart, Denver KGOV radio host (talk) 15:13, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

Sorry, never saw this. I think time and space are against this. The observatory predates Peck, being there since 1822 at least (when the Royal Observatory was proclaimed). Murrayfield is miles from Calton Hill, Murrayfield is west of the centre, Calton Hill more central but towards the East. I suspect Peck may have been working as astronomer in Murrayfield, Gorgie or thereabouts before becoming City Astronomer on Calton Hill. (Chi And H (talk) 20:36, 25 November 2020 (UTC))