Astronomy
Subject
Subject Source: UK Archival Thesaurus
Found in 8 Collections and/or Records:
Series
David V. Thomas Papers, 1956 - 1979, 2023
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 147
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...
Dates:
1956 - 1979; 2023
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).
Series
Errors of Observations and Adjustments to Instruments: records (including clock errors and rates), 1822 - 1954
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 150
Scope and Contents
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.
Dates:
1822 - 1954
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).
Series
Newspaper cuttings on the RGO and astronomy, 1922 - 1998
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 190
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...
Dates:
1922 - 1998
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).
Series
Requests for Astronomical Information: celestial phenomena and unidentified flying objects, 1968-1975, 1978
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 83
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...
Dates:
1968-1975, 1978
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).
Series
RGO Danjon Astrolabe papers, 1958 - 1979
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 87
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...
Dates:
1958 - 1979
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).
Series
RGO Time Department: Papers, 1872 - 1989
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 43
Scope and Contents
Catalogue in progress. Further records will be uploaded over the coming months.
Dates:
1872 - 1989
Conditions Governing Access:
Part restricted. Much of this collection is as yet unprocessed. Requests to view unlisted material should be sent to els57@cam.ac.uk. Access to files RGO 43/78-81 is restricted until 80 years from the date of creation under the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018.
Management Group
Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives
Management Group
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO
Scope and Contents
The RGO archives collection is now deposited in the University Library and consists of all the surviving historical paper records of the Royal Observatory from 1675 until circa 1980, though many later records are held and the collection accrues as material is deposited. The records are public records under the 1958 Public Records Act and are subject to the provisions of the 1958 and 1967 Acts, including the 'thirty-year rule'; at present all records created before 1992 January 01 are open...
Dates:
1675 - 2019
Conditions Governing Access:
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).
Found in:
Cambridge University Library
Series
Royal Observatory and RGO Solar Eclipse expedition records, 1896 - 1954
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 169
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...
Dates:
1896 - 1954
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).