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The items in this collection are both bound and unbound sets of the pre-printed forms which were used to record measurements of the transits of objects across the Greenwich Meridian and thus allow the accurate calculation of their position. Observations made on the Airy and Cooke Reversible Transit Circles were treated by the observers as a continuous sequence and the forms in later volumes are generally headed "Cooke Reversible Transit Circle".

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Monthly accounts, followed by mean daily rates.

Scope and Contents The papers of David Thomas cover the years 1956-1979. They include correspondence files, draft articles for publication, administrative papers, and a selection of digitised slides. The administrative papers date from Thomas’s time as Chairman of the RGO section of SRC branch of IPCS. They give an important insight into RGO staff concerns about the future of the organisation and of British Astronomy in general. Particularly significant are the files on the separation of the posts of...

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A large set of registers recording errors of observations and adjustments to instruments; clock errors and rates; and clock comparisons with standard.

Each register contains handwritten entries on printed numbered forms.

Note: there are many gaps in the surviving record. The clock error and clock rates books, for example, have volumes only for 1806-1813, 1899-1911, 1919-1921, 1929-1940.

Scope and Contents GALAXY was an automated measuring machine for determining accurate positions and brightnesses of stars on photographic plates. The GALAXY Project team, led by Bill Nicholson of the Photographic Astrometry Department, wrote the control software and developed programs to carry out a number of long-term projects, including the measurement of plates from major surveys. The most significant of these involved the measurement of the Second Cape Photographic Survey plates, 5820 plates secured...

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Bound volumes of printed Greenwich Heliographic Results, covering the years 1892-1957. Most contain multiple issues of printed results of measures made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, of photographs of the Sun taken at Greenwich, the Cape, and Kodaikanal/Mauritius, with additions such as printed ledgers of sunspot groups. The volumes are numbered 6-29. Numbers 1-5 are not extant.

Scope and Contents This class is comprised mainly of photographs and slides taken by Paul Murdin during his time working on La Palma with the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. Please note that 'official' RGO photographs of the ING are catalogued at RGO 100/2.In 1969, a sub-committee of the Astronomy, Space and Radio Board (ASRB) of the Science Research Council was established to examine the SRC’s future support for astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere, with...

Scope and Contents A large set of lantern slides originally held in two eight drawer wooden cabinets (only xx drawers were used). The sets were labelled 'C' [Clusters and nebulae (galactic objects], 'D' [Spectra], 'EG' [Galactic Objects] 'I' [Instruments], 'H' [Historical], 'S' [Planets] and 'T' [Time]. Each slide is numbered within its alphabetical sequence and this numbering system has been retained in the slide title here. Many slides have hand-written titles along the top edge. Most of the...

Scope and Contents From the File:

Observations and correspondence regarding miscellaneous astronomical matters.

Scope and Contents A set of miscellaneous drawings relating to RGO Herstmonceux and also the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma. They were originally rolled together in three rolls labelled 'MT Miscellaneous RGO Tracings (not microfilmed)'. The drawings have been arranged in sets according to drawing number where possible; drawing number usually corresponds to size ('V' being the largest and 'Z' the smallest). There are distinct V, W, X, Y and Z sized drawings, and four additional sets, including a...

Scope and Contents A set of press cuttings on the subjects of astronomy, the RGO, its move to Herstmonceux Castle and later to Cambridge, and its subsequent closure. Significant cuttings include coverage of the Moon landings (1968), the Space Race, the Apollo 13 disaster (1970), Halley's Comet (1986), images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, Comet Shoemaker-Levi’s collision with Jupiter (1994), Comet Hale-Bopp (1997), and the Galileo mission to Jupiter.Early coverage is sporadic, with cuttings...

Scope and Contents From the Sub-file:

Tables and notes on the rate of a chronometer by Thomas Cumming which was tested at the Royal Society and Royal Observatory, Greenwich; with three related letters from C.G. Briscoe and Cumming.

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Registers of:

1. Eclipses, Occultations etc of Jupiter's Satellites', on printed Royal Observatory Greenwich 'Forms No.202*'.

2. Occultations of stars and planet by the Moon', on printed Royal Observatory Greenwich 'Forms No.202**'.

3. Reductions of occultations of stars and planet by the Moon, on printed Royal Observatory Greenwich 'Forms No.31'.

Scope and Contents This class consists of requests for astronomical information sent to the Royal Greenwich Observatory between 1968 and 1975. It includes letters from the public, both in the UK and worldwide. Both incoming letters and carbon copies of official responses are preserved, with replies generally signed by Humphry Smith or William (Bill) Nicholson who were joint Press Officers from 1968.The first nine files are letters from the UK, deemed ‘general’ or ‘special’, and each organised in...

Scope and Contents The Danjon Astrolabe is a highly specialised instrument developed in the 1950s for use as an alternative to conventional transit instruments, which had many sources of potential error. In July 1959, a Danjon astrolabe (OPL No.9) was brought into service at the RGO Herstmonceux under the direction of C. A. Murray, primarily in order to extend the study of its effectiveness in determining corrections to the catalogue positions of bright stars. Before commencing operations, the method of...

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A set of glass plate negatives showing images of the sun taken at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux and at the Cape Observatory. The plates cover 15 April to 11 May 1963. They appear to be additional to those held at RGO 50.

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A set of glass plate negatives showing images of the sun taken mainly at the Cape Observatory, with some from RGO Herstmonceux. The plates cover 30 August - 27 December 1960 and 20 April - 21 June 1961. They appear to be additional to those held at RGO 50.

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Catalogue in progress. Further records will be uploaded over the coming months.

Scope and Contents RGO 50 is the product of a solar observation programme begun in 1873 at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and continued, from 1953 to 1979, at Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux. It primarily consists of a sequence of glass plate negatives of daily observations. Where no plate was produced at Greenwich or Herstmonceux the gap has been filled by sourcing plates from observatories elsewhere around the world, particularly the Indian observatories at Kodaikanal and Dehra Dūn. Observation...

Scope and Contents The 1873-1917 prints in this class were made from glass plate negatives which are no longer extant. The plates were the product of a solar observation programme begun in 1873 at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich but are thought to have been destroyed in the First World War. The sequence of images is a continuation of RGO 67: Kew Observatory solar photographs (1858-72) and is itself continued by RGO 50: Royal Observatory Greenwich and Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux Solar Plates...

Scope and Contents A set of files relating to British expeditions to observe solar eclipses. The record is incomplete and mainly consists of notebooks and correspondence re equipment and supplies. Included are notebooks listing photographic plates for the solar eclipses of 1900, 1901, 1905, 1912 and 1914 [RGO 169/1], notebooks listing equipment for the 1905 and 1932 eclipses [RGO 169/2 and 5], and correspondence regarding preparations for the UK-based observation of the 1927 eclipse [RGO 169/4]. The 1940...

Scope and Contents Registers of Royal Observatory Greenwich observations of sun and planet groupings, in two sets. The first set (covering 1860-1861 and 1864-1875) takes the form of notebooks with handwritten data, often in tables. From 1876 there was a new format: handwritten registers on bound printed Royal Observatory, Greenwich 'Forms No. 225'. Data on the printed forms is arranged under the following column headings: day of observation in R.A., number of observation in R.A.,...

Scope and Contents The photoheliographic programme of the Royal Observatory ran from 1873-1948 at Greenwich and from 1948-1976 at Herstmonceux, when it was ended by Sir Richard Woolley.The main series of the collection (RGO 157/2) is comprised of printed historical volumes of Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results (GPR), which include daily measurements of sunspot positions and the areas of sunspots and faculae observed from 1874 to 1976. Prior to 1948 the GRP volumes were published by the Royal...

Scope and Contents From the Item:

Includes accounts of the rates of chronometers, reports on chronometer trials, and eleven related letters.