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MM: Miscellaneous Solar Dome, 1958 - 1961, 1979

 Sub-Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 101/1/MM

Scope and Contents

A set of 189 drawings originally in two rolls labelled 'MM Miscellaneous Solar Dome, W and V size shts' and 'MM Miscellaneous Solar Dome, Z, Y and X size shts'. Includes drawings in five sheet sizes: V, W, X, Y and Z, drawn by the RGO's Drawing Office between 1958 and 1961, and in 1979.

The Solar Dome was the first of the new telescope domes built at RGO Herstmonceux. Largely designed by Robert Atkinson (Chief Assistant to Sir Harold Spencer Jones), it was built by staff of Chatham Dockyard under the direction of their Civil Engineer-in-Chief. The building housed the 6 1/4-inch Cooke refractor, with the Greenwich photoheliograph mounted onto the refractor on 2 May 1949 with such success that photographs were taken in both Greenwich and Herstmonceux on the same day, maintaining the continuity of the solar record. In 1951 a separate cellar to the east of the Building was built to house a spectroheliograph. The dome was used for daily solar observations until 1977.

Dates

  • Creation: 1958 - 1961
  • Creation: 1979

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

From the Management Group:

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Extent

190 sheet(s) (in 3 tubes and 1 box) : paper